North Korea closes diplomatic link with United States

North Korea said Monday it has decided to close its only direct diplomatic link with Washington, a move made days after the United States slapped sanctions on the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, and other officials over human rights abuses.

Pyongyang and Washington do not have formal diplomatic relations, but North Korea's mission to the United Nations in New York has acted as the main communication conduit between the two countries.

Now it will deal with "DPRK-US relations under the wartime law of the DPRK," according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea's state-run news agency.

The U.S. sanctions announced last week marked the first time Washington sanctioned Kim personally. Administration officials said Kim was "ultimately responsible" for what they called "North Korea's notorious abuses of human rights."

Pyongyang is already subject to heavy U.S. sanctions for its past nuclear and missile activity. But Wednesday's action marked the first time regime officials had been sanctioned for human rights abuses

"The DPRK government sent the U.S. government a message on July 10 through the DPRK permanent mission to the UN in connection with the fact that the U.S. recently impaired the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK by releasing what they call 'report on human rights,' and 'lists of targets of special sanctions' related to the DPRK," the KCNA reported.

North Korea said it would take "practical actions" against the United States since it "refused to comply" with a demand that the sanctions measure be withdrawn, the KCNA reported Monday. The first phase of "stage by stage" actions would be cutting off the New York contact channel, the report said.

"The DPRK government informed the U.S. government of its principled stand that from now on it would deal with all the issues arising in the DPRK-U.S. relations under the wartime law of the DPRK and the issue of detained Americans is no exception," the article said. "The U.S. is wholly to blame for the ensuing unpleasant things happening in the bilateral times."

North Korea this year has sentenced an American student, Otto Frederick Warmbier, to 15 years of hard labor after accusing him of removing a political banner from a hotel. It also sentenced a South Korean-born American citizen, Kim Dong Chul, to 10 years of hard labor for subversion and espionage.

[CNN]