North Korea yesterday said that it would end a diplomatic communication channel with the US and hinted at harsher punishment for Americans detained in the country in retaliation for US sanctions that target its leader, Kim Jong-un.
The US government last week imposed penalties on Kim and 10 other top officials for alleged human rights abuses.
The North called the sanctions tantamount to a war declaration.
Photo: AP
The North’s state media yesterday said Pyongyang told the US it will terminate contact through a UN channel in New York that allowed diplomats to communicate, referring to a method for the North’s UN diplomats to communicate with US diplomats in the city.
The North also said it informed Washington that it will handle all issues between the two countries according to an unspecified wartime law, including Americans detained in the North, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
South Korean media have suggested that the North might use the wartime law to hand out harsher punishments on detained Americans.
The North’s actions could complicate US efforts to secure the release of at least two American citizens being held for alleged espionage, subversion and other anti-state activities. One is serving a 10-year prison term with hard labor while the other received 15 years.
The North’s announcement came hours after it made more threats, this time over a US plan to deploy an advanced missile defense system in South Korea.
The North said it will take an unspecified “physical counter-action” as soon as the location of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system is announced.
The statement also carried one of the North’s favorite, oft-repeated threats: to turn Seoul into a “sea of fire.”
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