PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) – North Korea has lashed out at international sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs, saying they are being used to block everything from frozen chicken to swimming flippers.
In an unusually detailed and lengthy statement Friday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry stuck by its longstanding claim that the country has the right to develop nuclear weapons to defend itself against the United States, which it said under President Donald Trump is now openly trying to “suffocate” its economy.
It added that if testing or possessing nuclear weapons should be sanctioned, then the U.S. and other nuclear superpowers should be subject to sanctions as well.