North Korean spy chief says Pyongyang unfazed by sanctions

The head of North Korea’s General Bureau of Reconnaissance has said that the regime will survive regardless of international sanctions. Kim Yong-chol, who has headed the bureau since 2009, also serves as head of the United Front Department, which deals with South Korea.

Kim Yong-chol said North Korea “has not lived a single day without sanctions and will not die from them.”

Kim also insisted that the North’s latest nuclear test was only aimed at defending the isolated state against a U.S. threat, while North Korean leader Kim Jong-un intends to continue testing long-range rockets until the international community is convinced of their peaceful purpose.

[Chosun Ilbo]