North Korea Says U.K. Will ‘Pay’ for Sanctions Against It

North Korea Says U.K. Will ‘Pay’ for Sanctions Against It

By

Jeong-Ho Lee

‎Bloomberg, 11th July, 2020

 

Laying flowers before the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang

Photographer: Kim Won Jin/AFP via Getty Images

 

 

North Korea said the U.K. will “pay the price” for sanctions against its state security and police force after Britain announced its first-ever unilateral restrictions against the country under new global human rights regulations.

 

Britain has committed a provocation, according to a North Korean foreign ministry spokesperson via the official Korean Central News Agency on Saturday.

 

 

“Britain’s latest move is a flagrant political plot to jump on the bandwagon of the United States’ inimical policy,” the spokesperson said. “We strongly condemn and reject the U.K.’s daring to impose sanctions on the institutions responsible for our country’s security as violent interference in domestic affairs.”

 

The U.K. on Monday announced sanctions against North Korea’s Ministry of State Security Bureau 7 and the Ministry of People’s Security Correctional Bureau among 49 individuals and organizations.

 

The British government said the two organizations were involved in forced labor, torture and murder in North Korea’s prison camps. The U.K. has also targeted individuals and organizations from Russia, Saudi Arabia and Myanmar for alleged human rights abuses.