North Korea threatened Thursday to use the delay in six-party nuclear talks to bolster its military "deterrent force," a phrase the isolated communist nation often evokes in reference to its nuclear weapons program.
"It's not bad that the resumption of nuclear talks are delayed. During that period, we will make more deterrent force," said North's top nuclear envoy Kim Kye Gwan, speaking at a news conference in Tokyo. "We will react in an ultra hardline manner if the United States continues to apply pressure and sanctions. We will never yield to pressure."
Oh yes, don't forget to bring our $24 million with you.
North Korea has refused to restart the talks unless the financial restrictions — imposed on a Macau bank and North Korean companies — are lifted, but Washington has maintained the sanctions are unrelated to the nuclear talks and will stay in place.
The assets total about $24 million, which Washington says is linked to money laundering and counterfeiting. "I will go to the negotiating table the moment I seize the assets with my hands," Kim said at a news conference, hours before he was scheduled to leave Tokyo.
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