White House Warns North Korea to Refrain From Provocative Actions

The United States is warning North Korea to refrain from any further provocative actions in response to the country’s leader Kim Jong-un saying he was readying its nuclear weapons after the UN Security Council (UNSC) decided to expand sanctions on Pyongyang, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest stated during a press briefing on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The White House spokesperson noted it was "too early to tell" whether the expanded Security Council sanctions had had any effect on North Korea, but reaffirmed the stand of the United States and the international community that Pyongyang should fulfill all international obligations regarding its nuclear program.

"The kinds of comments and provocative actions that we’ve seen out of Pyongyang in the last 36 hours or so are not new, and we continue to urge the North Korean regime to refrain from provocative actions and statements that tend to aggravate tensions," Earnest said.

On Wednesday, the UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution to extend existing sanctions on North Korea in response to the country’s fourth nuclear bomb test in January and long-range rocket launches a month later in breach of the existing Security Council resolutions.

Soon after the Security Council issued the its decision to expand sanctions, Kim Jong-un stated that North Korea’s nuclear warheads needed to be ready to be used at any time.