Following a meeting on Wednesday with his U.S. and Japan counterparts, Sung Kim and Kimihiro Ishikane, Hwang said there was a “sufficient chance” for China’s support given its unwavering opposition to the North’s atomic tests, though Seoul and Beijing may not be “on the exact same page”.
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But the statement then switched back to defiant mode, accusing the United Nations of rushing to “fabricate a resolution on sanctions aimed at such hostile acts as hamstringing our efforts for peaceful economic construction and the improvement of the people’s standard of living”.
But China’s leverage over Pyongyang is mitigated, analysts say, by its overriding fear of a North Korean collapse and the prospect of a reunified, US-allied Korea directly on its border. Today’s meeting comes around a week-and-a-half after North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test in defiance of the global community.
The move could include THAAD interceptors and is meant to demonstrate a joint response to North Korea’s nuclear test The US government openly admitted that it is in deliberations with South Korea and Japan about strengthening their missile defense ability.
Aside from the North Korean nuclear test, the three officials may also discuss strengthening security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region amid China’s growing assertiveness in the South and East China seas.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye had said earlier she was confident of China’s backing for the latest UNSC resolution on North Korea.
South Korea and the United States exchanged opinions Saturday on how to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test in a “strong and comprehensive” manner, officials said. Now, according to the statement, North Korea “possesses the strongest deterrent forces”. The two vice ministers agreed that follow-up talks should be held to take certain measures if and when necessary.
There was a legislation passed unanimously by the House of Representatives in the United States on Tuesday to further increase sanctions on North Korea. Rhodes also touched on why Obama did not mention North Korea in his State of the Union Address on January 12.
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In a news report published by Pyongyang’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KNCA) on December 10, Kim Jong-un said his country “is capable of detonating an H-bomb as a nuclear state”. In the past two years, North Korea refrained from nuclear tests limiting itself to ballistic missile launches as a response to US-South Korea large-scale military drills.
