Live: North Korea voids all non-aggression pacts with South Korea

8.40 pm: North Korea voids all non-aggression pacts with South Korea A stung North Korea has scrapped all peace pacts with South Korea and severed a hotline with Seoul after the UN Security council imposed tough, new sanctions targeting its economy and leadership, despite Pyongyang’s threat of a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the United States. The penalties came in a unanimous resolution drafted by the US along with China, which is North Korea’s main benefactor. Beijing said the focus now should be to “defuse the tensions” by restarting negotiations. Pyongyang is known for its bellicose rhetoric, but the tone has reached a frenzied pitch in recent days, fuelling concerns that it might trigger a border incident, with both North and South planning major military exercises next week, reported AFP. [caption id=“attachment_652699” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Kim Jong-un: Reuters[/caption] North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, the country’s arm for dealing with cross-border affairs with Seoul, said it will retaliate with “crushing strikes” if enemies intrude into its territory “even an inch and fire even a single shell.” South and North Korea agreed in a 1992 joint declaration not to produce, test or use nuclear weapons. North Korea has since conducted three nuclear tests. The UN resolution were meant to send a powerful message to North Korea’s new young leader, Kim Jong Un, that the international community condemns his defiance of Security Council bans on nuclear and ballistic tests and is prepared to take even tougher action if he continues flouting international obligations. “Taken together, these sanctions will bite, and bite hard,” US Ambassador Susan Rice said. “They increase North Korea’s isolation and raise the cost to North Korea’s leaders of defying the international community.” Tensions with North Korea have escalated since Pyongyang launched a rocket in December and conducted last month’s nuclear test — the first since Kim took charge. Many countries, especially in the region, had hoped he would steer the country toward engagement and resolution of the dispute over its nuclear and missile programs. Instead, the North has escalated its threats. Immediately before the Security Council vote, a spokesman for Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry said the North will exercise its right for “a pre-emptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors” because Washington is “set to light a fuse for a nuclear war.” 8.30 am: US says it is fully capable of defending itself against a North Korean attack White House spokesman Jay Carney said the US is “fully capable” of defending itself against a North Korea ballistic missile attack. Experts doubt that the North has mastered how to mount a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland United States. The North Korean statement appeared to be the most specific open threat of a nuclear strike by any country against another. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the threat “absurd” and suicidal. The top US envoy on North Korea, Glyn Davies, cautioned Pyongyang not to miscalculate, saying the U.S. will take necessary steps to defend itself and its allies, including South Korea, where it bases more than 30,000 U.S. forces. “We take all North Korean threats seriously enough to ensure that we have the correct defense posture to deal with any contingencies that might arise,” Davies told reporters. Rice said “the entire world stands united in our commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and in our demand that North Korea comply with its international obligations.” South Korea’s UN Ambassador Kim Sook said North Korea’s threats and inflammatory statements will be dealt with “resolutely.” “North Korea must wake up from its delusion of becoming a … nuclear weapons state and make the right choice,” he said. “It can either take the right path toward a bright future and prosperity, or it can take a bad road toward further and deeper isolation and eventual self-destruction.” Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin also warned that “new threats or trying to build up the military muscle in the region … might be taking us away from the need to resume six-party talks,” which he added must be an international priority of all countries. In addition to the sanctions, the resolution bans further ballistic missile launches, nuclear tests “or any other provocation,” and demands that North Korea return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It condemns all of North Korea’s ongoing nuclear activities, including its uranium enrichment. With inputs from Associated Press