N. Korea warns of ‘resolute’ action against multilateral sanctions monitoring group’s activities

North Korea threatened Monday to take “resolute” action after a South Korea-led monitoring group implementing U.N. sanctions against the North over its nuclear and missile programs has launched official activities.

The North’s threat came as the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), established by South Korea and 10 other countries in October, pledged to ensure the full implementation of U.N. sanctions against North Korea at the inaugural meeting of its steering committee last week.

Calling the MSMT an “illegal and criminal ghost group,” the chief of the external policy office at North Korea’s foreign ministry warned that hostile forces will have to “pay a steep price” for their attempt to block the exercising of North Korea’s sovereign rights, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

“The DPRK will never thirst for a lifting of sanctions but will never overlook the provocations of the U.S. and its followers to encroach upon the legitimate sovereignty of the DPRK under the pretext of implementing sanctions and strongly counter them with resolute actions,” the official said.

DPRK stands for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“Sanctions waiver through negotiations is not a matter of concern from long ago for the DPRK, which has no sanctions to be canceled and to be added, and it is not on the agenda of the DPRK,” the official noted.

South Korea’s foreign ministry refuted the North’s claim, calling it “self-contradictory” for Pyongyang to denounce the multinational efforts as illegal while it continues to violate U.N. sanctions.

“It is self-contradictory and absurd for North Korea, which continues to blatantly violate international law, including U.N. Security Council (UNSC) sanctions resolutions, to label the voluntary efforts of U.N. member states to faithfully implement the resolutions as illegal or illegitimate,” the ministry said.

“We will continue to strengthen our cooperation with the international community to ensure the full implementation of UNSC sanctions on North Korea, including active participation in MSMT activities,” it said.

With Seoul’s initiative, the 11 countries, including the United States and Japan, established the MSMT last October to continue the sanctions monitoring against North Korea following the disbandment of the U.N. monitoring panel in April last year due to Russia’s veto.