North Korea warned the United States on Tuesday that it will pay a “terrifying price” if the Korean Peninsula sinks into deeper tensions, stepping up its rhetoric hours after US Secretary of State John Kerry blasted Pyongyang for its nuclear program.
Kerry told a regional security conference being hosted by laos that North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons when the world is trying to rid itself of them is “very provocative and deeply concerning.” He urged the country to follow the lead of Iran, which hammered out a deal to end its nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions. However, North Korea was slapped with new UN sanctions in March, and Kerry urged the international community to fully enforce those and previous sanctions.