When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
North Korea

North Korea Raises Stakes Again, Calls Sanctions "Declaration Of War"

GLOBAL TIMES, XINHUA( China), BBC (UK)

Worldcrunch

PYONGYANG – For the second straight day, North Korea has lashed out at its enemies, raising the stakes in the showdown over its nuclear program by warning Friday that new UN economic sanctions would amount to a "declaration of war."

The KCNA North Korean news agency, relayed a statement from Pyongyang's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland that stated: "Sanctions mean a war and a declaration of war against us," reports the BBC.

This latest threat to take “strong physical countermeasures” against South Korea follows Tuesday's decision by the United Nations Security Council to apply new sanctions against the North Korean regime if it carries out new tests of nuclear missiles, reports Xinhua.

This follows an official North Korean statement on Wednesday that qualified the US as its “sworn enemy,” and the eventual target of its nuclear missile program.

North Korean Missile, Youtube expand=1]

Pyongyang's increasingly aggressive stance has begun to worry its only ally in the region, China. On Friday, an editorial of the State Communist party newspaper Global Times stated that Beijing could also wind up applying economic sanctions against North Korea too if they carry out their nuclear tests.

“If North Korea engages in further nuclear tests, China will not hesitate to reduce its assistance to North Korea,” states the Chinese Newspaper.

In the face of a still quite young North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, the Global Times urged the regime to “stay calm.”

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Piercing The "Surovikin Line" — Inside The Biggest Win Of Ukraine's Counteroffensive

The area around Robotyne, in southeastern Ukraine, has been the centre of a fierce two-month battle. Ukrainian publication Livy Bereg breaks down how Ukrainian forces were able to exploit gaps in Russian defenses and push the counteroffensive forward.

photo of two soldiers advancing at daybreak

A new dawn across the front line?

Kyrylo Danylchenko

ROBOTYNE — Since the fall of 2022, Russian forces have been building a series of formidable defensive lines in Ukrainian territory, from Vasylivka in the Zaporizhzhia region to the front in Vremivka in the Donetsk region.

These defenses combined high-density minefields, redoubts (fortified structures like wooden bunkers, concrete fortifications and buried granite blocks), as well as anti-tank ditches and pillboxes. Such an extensive and intricate defensive network had not been seen in Europe since World War II.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest