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North Korea Renews Its Threat To Send ‘More Gift Packages’ Of Missile Tests To The U.S.

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Two months ago, North Korea celebrated the United States’ July 4th weekend celebrations with some of its own fireworks — the successful launch of its first intercontinental ballistic missile. Boasting a range of just over 3,500 miles, experts believe the new missile has the potential to reach the Alaskan coast. (That is, if North Korea’s frequent weapons tests should ever prove consistently successful.) At the time, the Associated Press reported that the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, told his top scientists to “frequently send big and small ‘gift packages’ to the Yankees.”

On Tuesday, North Korean Ambassador Han Tae Song told attendees at the U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament he was “proud” of the country’s recent underground nuclear test, its sixth in total. What’s more, Song repeated his leader’s previous reference to “gift packages” several times:

“The recent self-defense measures by my country, DPRK, are a ‘gift package’ addressed to none other than the U.S.,” Han said.

“The U.S. will receive more ‘gift packages’ from my country as long as its relies on reckless provocations and futile attempts to put pressure on the DPRK,” he added without elaborating.

The ambassador went on to say that Trump’s proposed sanctions against North Korea “will never work,” as the country “will never under any circumstances put its nuclear deterrence on the negotiating table.” Song’s comments came as Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders responded to Trump’s boasts, as well as those of Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis and American U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who claimed North Korea was “begging for war.”

Meanwhile, Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning that he will allow Japan and South Korea “to buy a substantially increased amount of highly sophisticated military equipment from the United States.” Last week, the rogue nation fired a missile over north Japan, where U.S. and Japanese forces were conducting military exercises at the time. Trump subsequently declared “all options are on the table” after discussing the incident with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

(Via Reuters)

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