SEOUL, South Korea \u2014 North Korea said Saturday that it will never give up its nuclear weapons as long as the United States and its allies continue their \u201cblackmail and war drills\u201d at its doorstep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The North\u2019s official Korean Central News Agency took the oft-repeated stance as it reviewed the country\u2019s major nuclear weapons and missile tests this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
North Korea conducted its most powerful nuclear test to date in September and launched three intercontinental ballistic missiles into the sea in July and November, indicating that it is closer than ever to gaining a nuclear arsenal that could viably target the mainland United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The aggressive tests have led to more international sanctions and pressure on North Korea amid concerns that the window for stopping or rolling back its nuclear program is closing rapidly. The U.S. and South Korea have maintained that they won\u2019t negotiate with the North unless it is willing to discuss curbing its nuclear weapons and missile program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In its report Saturday, KCNA said North Korea had taken steps for \u201cbolstering the capabilities for self-defense and pre-emptive attacks with nuclear force\u201d in the face of a continued \u201cnuclear threat and blackmail and war drills\u201d by the United States and its \u201cvassal forces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The North often lashes out at the annual military drills between the United States and South Korea, which the allies describe as defensive in nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KCNA accused President Donald Trump of employing unprecedented hostile policies against North Korea and threatening it with talks of pre-emptive strikes. It described North Korea as an \u201cundeniable new strategic state and nuclear power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo not expect any change in its policy. Its entity as an invincible power can neither be undermined nor be stamped out,\u201d KCNA said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe DPRK, as a responsible nuclear weapons state, will lead the trend of history to the only road of independence,\u201d it added, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
North Korea said Saturday that it will never give up its nuclear weapons as long as the United States and its allies continue their \u201cblackmail and war drills\u201d at its doorstep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":85980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":13,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,13,16,26],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1344],"class_list":["post-46996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"7PICS2X47JEJNF7REJVMAI4YR4","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2017\/12\/30\/north-korea-says-wont-give-up-nukes-if-us-keeps-up-blackmail\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n