North Korea Rejects New UNSC Sanctions, Intends to Continue Nuclear Buildup

TOKYO (Sputnik) — North Korea has fully rejected the latest UN Security Council resolution to expand sanctions against Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile activities, and Pyongyang intends to continue its nuclear development without any delay, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

On Friday, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution drafted by the United States to expand the scope of sanctions, travel bans and asset freezes against North Korea. The sanctions came in response to ongoing ballistic missile tests by Pyongyang.

"The DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs gives a strong condemnation and rejection to the UNSC's another campaign of sanctions as it is a crafty hostile act with the purpose of putting a curb on the DPRK's buildup of nuclear forces, disarming it and causing economic suffocation to it," the ministry's statement, published on Sunday by South Korean Yonhap news agency, said.

The resolution is the result of five weeks of negotiations between the United States and China. The measure added new individuals and entities connected to Pyongyang’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs to the existing UN blacklist.

"It is a fatal miscalculation if the countries, which have had a hand in the frame-up of the 'sanctions resolution,' would even think that they can delay or hold in check the eye-opening development of the DPRK's nuclear forces even for a moment," the ministry said.

North Korea conducted its most recent ballistic missile launch on Monday. During the test, the projectile reportedly flew some 280 miles before falling into Japan's exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan.