North Korea slams US sanctions on Pyongyang, vows corresponding response

Seoul, Nov 6 (IANS) North Korea on Thursday denounced the latest US sanctions on Pyongyang over cybercrime-related money laundering, vowing to respond in a corresponding manner.

The North's reaction came as the US announced on Tuesday that it had imposed sanctions on eight North Korean individuals and two entities for their involvement in laundering money stolen through illicit cyber activities.

The sanctions came even as US President Donald Trump has expressed his wish to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to resume stalled diplomacy with Pyongyang.

Kim Un-chol, North Korea's vice foreign minister in charge of US affairs, said in a statement that Washington's latest sanctions demonstrate its hostile policy toward the North, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"As long as the current US administration has laid out its stance that it will be hostile to us to the end, we will also respond to them with patience and in a corresponding manner," read the statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Denouncing the US for showing its "malicious nature," the North's official warned Washington should not expect its tactics of pressure, appeasement and threats against North Korea will work.

The US sanctions came as North Korea has not responded to Trump's proposal to meet with the North's leader during his latest trip to South Korea on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering.

Earlier this week, the US State Department had also raised the need to seek UN sanctions on seven ships accused of illegally exporting North Korean coal and iron ore to China in violation of UN Security Council sanctions over the North's nuclear and missile programmes.

South Korea's spy agency said this week there were signs that North Korea had been preparing for a possible meeting with the US in time for last week's APEC gathering.

The National Intelligence Service had said that there is a high possibility that the North and the US would hold a summit some time after an annual joint military exercise between South Korea and the US in March next year.

--IANS

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