Pyongyang says ready to send ‘more gift packages’ to US

North Korea has warned the United States that Pyongyang is prepared to send “more gift packages” to Washington, two days after the peninsular Asian country sent shock waves across the world by detonating a hydrogen bomb, purportedly designed for a long-range missile.

Han Tae Song, the ambassador of North Korea to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, made the remark on Tuesday, while addressing the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament.

“The US will receive more 'gift packages' from my country as long as it relies on reckless provocations and futile attempts to put pressure on the [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] DPRK,” the North Korean official said without elaborating.

There has been an international uproar over Pyongyang’s sixth and the biggest nuclear test to date, which was conducted on September 3. The bomb was also about three times more powerful than America's atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.

China, Russia and South Korea are among the countries that have voiced strong criticism of the North's sixth nuclear test. Washington has also censured Pyongyang, and President Donald Trump has described North Korea as a “rogue nation,” which has become a “great threat and embarrassment” to China, North Korea's main ally.

Experts on North Korea have already warned that aggressive rhetoric could backfire on Trump, convincing Pyongyang that it is in imminent danger and triggering what he sees as a preemptive attack.

“I am proud of saying that just two days ago on the 3rd of September, [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] DPRK successfully carried out a hydrogen bomb test for intercontinental ballistic rocket under its plan for building a strategic nuclear force,” Han told the forum.

He added that the hydrogen bomb test and other recent “self-defense measures” carried out by the North were in fact a “gift package” addressed solely to Washington.

SS