WASHINGTON — North Korea said the U.S. will “pay dearly” after its United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley demanded the strongest sanctions ever to stop Kim Jong Un’s nuclear weapons program.
Describing Haley as a “political prostitute” who kicked off a “hysteric fit,” a commentary in the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Friday warned the U.S. after she said North Korea’s Sept. 3 nuclear test was evidence the country was “begging for war.” KCNA didn’t specify the threat.
“Nikki should be careful with her tongue though she might be a blind fool,” KCNA said. “The U.S. administration will have to pay a dear price for her tongue-lashing.”
The missive from Pyongyang came hours after President Donald Trump said it wasn’t certain the U.S. would end up in a war with North Korea over its nuclear weapons, but that military action remained an option.
“Nothing’s inevitable,” Trump said in a news conference on Thursday at the White House with the emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah. “I would prefer not going the route of the military, but it is something certainly that could happen.”
He declined to say whether he’d accept a nuclear-armed North Korea that can be successfully deterred from using atomic weapons. A senior administration official later told reporters that the U.S. will not allow North Korea to extort or threaten the world with its nuclear program, and that the administration is not sure the country can be deterred.
The official said that the danger of war is rising, and that the U.S. is also concerned about North Korea exporting its nuclear technology to other nations or to terror groups.