North Korea say US declared WAR when it 'crossed red line' by sanctioning Kim Jong-Un

NORTH KOREA has accused the United States of declaring war on them after they "crossed the red line" by placing the secretive state's crackpot leader on their sanctions list.

Kim Jong-Un says the US's decision to put him on their sanctions list is a declaration of war

The nation's top diplomat for US affairs warned a vicious showdown could erupt if the US and South Korea hold annual war games as planned next month. 

Han Song Ryol said America's decision to place Kim Jong-Un on the sanctions list for the first time for sickening crimes including torture and execution could put the super powers on war footing. 

He said: "The Obama administration went so far to have the impudence to challenge the supreme dignity of the DPRK in order to get rid of its unfavorable position during the political and military showdown with the DPRK. 

"The United States has crossed the red line in our showdown. We regard this thrice-cursed crime as a declaration of war."

The US and South Korea regularly conduct joint military exercises and Pyongyang often responds with tough talk and retaliation threats. 

But it seems that US sanctions are the final straw in the eyes of the secretive state, as Han threatened war. 

He said: "Nobody can predict what kind of influence this kind of vicious confrontation between the DPRK and the United States will have upon the situation on the Korean Peninsula. 

"By doing these kinds of vicious and hostile acts toward the DPRK, the US has already declared war against the DPRK. So it is our self-defensive right and justifiable action to respond in a very hard way."

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The Obama administration has been accused of challenging 'the supreme dignity of the DPRK'

In signs of the dictator's stranglehold of poverty and brainwashing, the State Department blacklisted officials behind human rights abuses including extrajudicial killings, torture and forced labour earlier this week. 

Many of the crimes are said to have been committed in the country’s political prison camps - known as kwanliso - which holds 80,000 to 120,000 prisoners where torture, execution, sexual assault, starvation and slave labour are common.

But Pyongyang strongly refutes the claims saying the sanctions are based on pure fabrication and disgruntled defectors.

Han blamed the US for provoking tensions over its continued development of nuclear weapons. 

He said: "Day by day, the US military blackmail against the DPRK and the isolation and pressure is becoming more open, 

"It is not us, it is the United States that first developed nuclear weapons, who first deployed them and who first used them against humankind. 

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Kim Jong-Un is said to have committed crimes including torture and execution

"And on the issue of missiles and rockets, which are to deliver nuclear warheads and conventional weapons warheads, it is none other than the United States who first developed it and who first used it." 

Han also refused to back down saying North Korea would not abandon its nuclear programmes despite pressure, adding: "In the view of cause and effect, it is the US that provided the cause of our possession of nuclear forces.

"We never hide the fact, and we are very proud of the fact, that we have very strong nuclear deterrent forces not only to cope with the United States' nuclear blackmail but also to neutralise the nuclear blackmail of the United States."