The latest U.N. sanctions against North Korea are an act of war and tantamount to a complete economic blockade against it, North Korea’s foreign ministry said on Sunday, threatening to punish those who supported the measure.
The U.N. Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Friday for its recent intercontinental ballistic missile test, seeking to limit its access to refined petroleum products and crude oil and its earnings from workers abroad.
The U.N. resolution seeks to ban nearly 90 percent of refined petroleum exports to North Korea by capping them at 500,000 barrels a year and, in a last-minute change, demands the repatriation of North Koreans working abroad within 24 months, instead of 12 months as first proposed.
The U.S.-drafted resolution also caps crude oil supplies to North Korea at 4 million barrels a year and commits the Council to further reductions if it were to conduct another nuclear test or launch another ICBM.
In a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency, North Korea’s foreign ministry said the United States was terrified by its nuclear force and was getting “more and more frenzied in the moves to impose the harshest-ever sanctions and pressure on our country”.
The new resolution was tantamount to a complete economic blockade of North Korea, the ministry said.
“We define this ‘sanctions resolution’ rigged up by the U.S. and its followers as a grave infringement upon the sovereignty of our Republic, as an act of war violating peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and the region and categorically reject the ‘resolution’,” it said.
“There is no more fatal blunder than the miscalculation that the U.S. and its followers could check by already worn-out ‘sanctions’ the victorious advance of our people who have brilliantly accomplished the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force”, the ministry said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Nov. 29 declared the nuclear force complete after the test of North Korea’s largest-ever ICBM test, which the country said puts all of the United States within range.
Kim told a meeting of members of the ruling Workers’ Party on Friday that the country “successfully realized the historic cause of completing the state nuclear force” despite “short supply in everything and manifold difficulties and ordeals owing to the despicable anti-DPRK moves of the enemies”.
North Korea’s official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
South Korea’s foreign ministry told Reuters it is aware of the North Korean statement on the new sanctions, again highlighting its position that they are a “grave warning by the international community that the region has no option but to immediately cease reckless provocations, and take the path of dialogue for denuclearization and peace”.
North Korea said those who voted for the sanctions would face its wrath.
“Those countries that raised their hands in favor of this ‘sanctions resolution’ shall be held completely responsible for all the consequences to be caused by the ‘resolution’ and we will make sure for ever and ever that they pay heavy price for what they have done.”
The North’s old allies China and Russia both supported the latest U.N. sanctions.
Tension has been rising over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, which it pursues in defiance of years of U.N. Security Council resolutions, with bellicose rhetoric coming from both Pyongyang and the White House.
According to James 'Maddog' Mattis as shared in this new story from the Associated Press, "storm clouds are gathering over the Korean peninsula". Warning that US soldiers must do their part by being ready at any moment for war, Mattis's comments came soon after the UN Security Council voted unanimously to approve tough new sanctions against Kim Jong Un and his 'hermit kingdom' over their continued belligerent threats of violence and ICBM tests.
The AP story was just one of four linked to by the Drudge Reporton Saturday morning as seen in the screenshot below and as we enter what we hope is a peaceful and joyous Christmas for everyone, the 'war drums' continue to beat on.
While General Robert Neller, the commandant of the Marine Corps, recently told his troops that “there’s a war coming” while urging them to be prepared, former 'Pentagon Papers' leaker Daniel Elsberg just recently cautioned that the US is "close to nuclear armageddon" as reported in this story from Mac Slavoover at SHTFPlan.
Among those who read independent media and pay attention to the signs that we've long been watching, it's been clear for quite some time that we've been slowly ticking our way towards the next world war. While Survival Dan recently reported that most Americans are living in a vacuum and totally unprepared for SHTF, as we've previously warned on ANP, a 'worst case scenario' could happen before most people even knew what hit us should North Korea successfully deliver an EMP attack upon us.
And while we're happy to report that msm sources such as Bloomberg have recently written stories detailing the very real dangers facing America from an EMP, those warnings may be way too little too late for those who haven't prepared or have been listening to the lies coming to us from the mainstream media who call EMP threats 'science fiction'.
As Dr Peter Vincent Pry reported on ANP back on October 10th of 2017, should America be taken down via an EMP attack from North Korea, our epitaph should be "Died From Stupidity". As we've also previously reported, Dr. Pry was a long-time member of the US Congressional EMP Commission, a Commission which was disbanded back in October.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Tuesday morning toured the IDF Re’im base near the Gaza Strip border and praised the “optimism and good mood” of the local residents of the Gaza vicinity. Referring to the barrage of between 30 and 40 rockets that had hit the Jewish settlements in the area, Liberman said, “We will not tolerate any drizzle [of rockets] … We know what to do, how to do it and especially when to do it”
He added that “the drizzle did not last, as you’ve noticed, we’ve had a completely calm day.”
Pointing to the connection between President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the sharp increase in rocket attacks from Gaza against Israeli settlements, the defense minister commented: “It was clear to us that the announcement by the US president would come with a price – and I repeat, we are willing to pay any price.”
“That statement is important,” he reiterated, “and these things seem to have a price which is worth paying.”
Since Trump’s announcement on December 6, between 30 and 40 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip towards the Israeli border settlements. About half of them landed in the Gaza Strip, but on two occasions last week, the rockets landed in populated areas south of Ashkelon and Sderot. There were no casualties but property was damaged.
Liberman mentioned the multiple arrests of Salafi terrorists Hamas has been carrying out in the Gaza Strip in recent days, in order to put a stop to firing the rocket – after Israel had targeted Hamas facilities for its unusually fierce retaliation. Ha’aretz earlier reported that the Salafi detainees had been subject to severe torture at the hand of Hamas security services.
Liberman expressed satisfaction at the fact that Hamas had “internalized the lesson” of the unabashed Israeli Air Force response, saying, “To my understanding, after their interrogation in Hamas’ detention, no one is going back [to firing rockets].”
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned about increased activity by Russian submarines in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean in an interview published Saturday.
“Russia has massively invested in its marine capability, especially in submarines,” the military alliance’s secretary-general told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, the sunday edition of the German daily, as well as two other international newspapers.
“Russia’s submarine activity is now at its highest level since the Cold War,” he said, pointing to thirteen additional submarines since 2014. Russian submarines are operating all over the Atlantic, as well as “closer to our shores,” he said.
That presents a threat to the trans-Atlantic military alliance by possibly undermining links between European and North American allies, he said.
“We’re a transatlantic alliance, and for that reason we have to be able to transport troups and equipment across the Atlantic,” he said. “For that, we need secure and open sea routes.”
Against this background, NATO also plans to set up a new command post for the Atlantic and is due to take more detailed decision on the new structure next year.
“NATO has reduced its marine capabilities after the end of the cold war, especially to fight submarines,” Stoltenberg said.
Is France’s public quarreling with Iran in recent months a sign that Europe will fall in line with the hardline policies of the U.S. and Israel against the terrorism-supporting Tehran regime?
Experts say that a sea change in that continent’s policy towards the Islamic Republic is unlikely to materialize.
“The French may be publicly voicing stronger rhetoric than their European counterparts on Iran’s missile threat and regional adventurism, but so far have shown no appetite to make their business overtures to Iran conditional on different behavior,” Iran expert Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, told JNS.
“Europe favors a unified position in foreign policy, which usually means a watered-down approach to issues unless there is a strong consensus,” he said.
On Dec. 17, Iran described French President Emmanuel Macron as President Donald Trump’s “lapdog” for Macron’s stern rhetoric against the Iranian ballistic missile program. Reuters reported that France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who was in Washington on Dec. 18 to meet with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, said that Iran’s “hegemonic temptations in the region is a matter of urgency.”
Last month, Macron called for negotiations on Iran’s ballistic missile program. In what seemed to be a response to the French leader’s comments, Hossein Salami, a commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said in an interview translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute that “until now, we felt that Europe did not pose a threat to us, so we did not plan the range of our missiles to reach Europe, even though we can.”
Salami warned that “we will extend the range of our missiles to wherever we feel threatened.”
Dr. Emmanuel Navon, a researcher at the recently established Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies and a senior fellow at the Kohelet Policy Forum, explained that despite Macron’s remarks, some top French diplomats favor a conciliatory attitude towards Iran.
“Many French politicians, diplomats and analysts see in the 2003 Iraq war an unforgivable mistake that eventually produced ISIS. By contrast, they consider Iran a stabilizing factor against Sunni fundamentalism,” Navon told JNS.
The French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs, for example, “has a very favorable attitude toward Iran,” he said, adding that Macron “is going against a French pro-Iranian tide.
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