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S.Korea warns unbearable retaliation against DPRK's nuclear threats

Xinhua, March 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

South Korea's foreign ministry on Tuesday warned of unbearable retaliations against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear threats.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuk told a regular press briefing that if Pyongyang conducts any other provocation, the DPRK will face the international community's relations it can no longer endure.

Cho said top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un recently ordered continued nuclear tests and a diversification of vehicles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, noting that such orders were provocative words.

South Korea and the international society will never tolerate Kim's comments, which were tantamount to declaring his willingness to continue provocations and escalate threats under a situation that the international community is sternly responding to the latest DPRK provocations, Cho noted.

The spokesman added that another DPRK provocation will lead the country to walk a path of destroying itself after facing unbearable retaliations from the international society.

Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket, which was condemned as a disguised test of ballistic missile technology, on Feb. 7 after testing what it claimed was its first hydrogen bomb on Jan. 6.

UN Security Council adopted tougher-than-ever sanctions on Pyongyang earlier this month in response to the nuclear test and rocket launch. South Korea imposed unilateral restrictions on the DPRK, including a ban on third-country ships having docked at the DPRK in the past 180 days from entering South Korean ports.

In response to the sanctions and the ongoing joint annual war games between Seoul and Washington, the DPRK made bellicose rhetoric recently, warning a "pre-emptive and offensive nuclear strike" against South Korea and the U.S. mainland.

Top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un warned of impending tests of nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles. According to the DPRK's KCNA news agency, Kim said a nuclear warhead explosion test and a test-fire of ballistic rockets capable of carrying nuclear warheads will be conducted in a short time to enhance the reliance of its nuclear attack capability.

Kim made the remarks when he guided the successful simulated test of re-entry technology needed to return a long-range missile's warhead back into atmosphere. Seoul's defense ministry said the DPRK has yet to secure such technology.

Last week, Kim said that Pyongyang has succeeded in miniaturizing nuclear warheads to fit on ballistic missiles while stressing the need for continued tests of nuclear explosions to improve nuclear attack capability. Enditem