North Korea warns it may rethink moratorium on nuclear, missile tests

North Korea would bolster its defences against the United States and consider restarting “all temporally-suspended activities,” state media KCNA reported on Thursday, an apparent reference to a self-imposed moratorium on testing its nuclear bombs and long-range missiles.

Tension has been rising over a recent series of North Korea missile tests.

A US push for fresh sanctions was followed by heated reaction from Pyongyang, raising the spectre of a return to the period of so-called “fire and fury” threats of 2017.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened a meeting of the powerful politburo of the ruling Workers’ Party on Wednesday to discuss “important policy issues,” including countermeasures over “hostile” US policy, the official KCNA news agency said.

The politburo ordered a reconsideration of trust-building measures and “promptly examining the issue of restarting all temporally-suspended activities,” while calling for “immediately bolstering more powerful physical means,” KCNA added.