Calls North Korean  threat ‘unusual and  extraordinary’


U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday extended economic sanctions against North Korea for another year citing North Korea’s “unusual and extraordinary threat.”

Tensions on the peninsula have been high in recent months, following repeated threats by Pyongyang against Seoul and the North’s failed long-range rocket launch in April, prompting the U.N. Security Council to tighten sanctions on Pyongyang.

In a statement to Congress, Obama said the extension is aimed at dealing with North Korea’s “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States constituted by the existence and risk of proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the Korean Peninsula.”

The U.S. has extended its sanctions on North Korea, also subject to international sanctions, each year in June.

On Monday North Korea accused the U.S. of building up military forces in the Asia-Pacific region and vowed to strengthen its own defenses.

The North described a U.S. arms buildup as what it termed an “open provocation” to Pyongyang and a prelude to a regional war.

A North Korean spokesman’s comments on the official news agency cited the disclosure last week that U.S. forces based in the South are seeking more attack helicopters and stronger missile defense systems.

The spokesman also mentioned a naval exercise involving South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, to be held Thursday and Friday south of the peninsula.

South Korean and U.S. forces will also hold their largest joint live-fire military exercise Friday to showcase their “watertight defense posture and war-fighting capabilities,” Seoul’s Defense Ministry said.

The North also blasted last Thursday’s Washington meeting between the U.S. and South Korean defense and foreign ministers. It said their aim was to discuss “making South Korea an advance base for the implementation of the U.S. strategy for domination over Asia.”

(From news reports )