North Korea rejects United Nations resolution, vows stronger self-defense measures

Such sanctions could serve as a guidepost for unilateral actions against Pyongyang.

The aim is to supplement a fresh sanctions package adopted by the UN Security Council on Wednesday in response to the North’s latest nuclear test in September, a government spokesman here said Thursday. South Korea and Japan are imposing unilateral sanctions on North Korea this week. He estimates North Korea has generated more than $160 million since 2000 from buildings and monuments in places like Namibia, Congo, Botswana and Senegal. They include Choe Ryong-hae, a vice chairman of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party; and director of the military’s general political bureau Hwang Pyong-so, a vice marshal.

Editor’s note: John Delury is an associate professor at the Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies in Seoul, South Korea.

Lee Kwan-hyung, a researcher from Seoul-based Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, said during a seminar about 30 percent of North Koreans use drugs, which have become a part of “everyday life”, Yonhap reported. The measures could also target North Koreans who work through Chinese banks. He also repeated Beijing’s opposition to U.S. plans to place a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) installation in South Korea-a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system. The four executives were also blacklisted. By supplementing the new United Nations resolution, Seoul is hoping to ratchet up the pressure on the North by another notch.

Washington added seven people and 16 entities to its blacklist, including Air Koryo, North Korea’s national airline.

Beijing making it clear that although China is against a nuclear North Korea, it blames the US and the South for scaling up military exercises.

“This year, North Korea went ahead with two nuclear tests and launched more than 20 ballistic missiles”, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told his cabinet Friday, introducing the sanctions. It previously included just 22 agricultural and marine products. Japan and South Korea quickly made it clear to China that they meant to go along with the U.S.

South Korea prepares for WAR in test-fire exhibition Tue, September 6, 2016 South Korea have shown the world it’s ready for war as Kim Jong Un marches towards nuclear apocalypse.

He said: “We categorically reject the UN Security Council resolution on sanctions against our country”.

But the measures were largely symbolic, analysts said, and are unlikely to convince North Korea that the costs of pursuing nuclear weapons outweigh the benefits.

Japan and South Korea have announced their own set of sanctions aimed at North Korea on Friday, amid protests from China and support from the United States.

Suga said Japan will renew efforts to bring home all Japanese abducted by North Korea, as well as more strictly blocking visits from North Korean officials and penalizing related groups, including those in China.

According to Reuters, Hwang is already on a U.S. treasury sanctions list and was once believed to have been Pyongyang’s second-most powerful official who is not part of the Kim clan.