U.S. Blasted for Ratcheting Up Sanctions and Pressure on DPRK

Pyongyang, March 14 (KCNA) -- The U.S. recently announced that it would impose sanctions on 56 designations in total - 27 shipping and trading companies, 28 vessels and 1 individual - of the DPRK and other countries under the pretext of preventing its "attempt to evade the sanctions" and intercepting the illegal means to help the transactions in the open sea. Commenting on the fact, Minju Joson Wednesday says that it shows how desperately the U.S. is working to ratchet up the sanctions and pressure on the DPRK and suffocate it. The U.S. recent announcement is not merely a continuation of such anti-DPRK sanction and pressure racket, the paper notes, and goes on: The U.S. seeks to realize a cynical ploy to bring back the situation to a phase of tension by escalating the sanctions and pressure on the DPRK. It has so far justified the hegemonic policy towards the Asia-Pacific region under the pretext of mounting tensions on the Korean Peninsula. So, it is seeking to stem the détente on the peninsula, getting the jitters about it. The U.S. recent announcement of additional sanctions is nothing but a red herring aimed at tarnishing the international image of the DPRK and diverting the attention of the international community welcoming the détente on the peninsula. It is the U.S. black-hearted intention to create a phase of confrontation on the peninsula by rattling the nerves of the DPRK and plugging more countries into the sanctions racket. Such sanctions can never be justified as they are illegal and unethical. -0-