South Korea warned North Korea Tuesday that it will face "unbearable punishment" if it conducts further provocations following its nuclear and missile tests earlier this year.
The warning came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his country would soon conduct tests of nuclear warheads and ballistic rockets to improve its nuclear strike capabilities. Kim made the remarks while attending a simulation of the atmospheric re-entry of a long-range rocket, according to the North's state media.
"If North Korea directly challenges the international community's united resolve and conducts another provocation, it will face the international community's unbearable punishment and take the path to self-destruction," Cho June-hyuck, spokesperson of Seoul's Foreign Ministry, said during a regular press briefing.
Earlier this month, the U.N. Security Council slapped tough sanctions on North Korea to punish it for its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and long-range rocket launch on Feb. 7. South Korea, the United States and other countries have also imposed separate bilateral sanctions on the communist state in an effort to cut off its means to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Kim's threats amount to a declaration that North Korea will carry out further provocations, Cho said, adding South Korea and the international community "will not tolerate it." (Yonhap)
