The North Korean foreign ministry issued a statement, emphasizing the country’s nuclear test earlier this month was not aimed at escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
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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.
On January 6, North Korea said it had successfully conducted its first hydrogen bomb test. The country also pledged to continue developing its nuclear program as a means of “deterrence” against potential acts of aggression from the US. This was supposed to be the first invitation for North Korea to attend this event after a gap of 18 years.
It is likely both officials would take the opportunity to persuade China, a permanent member of the Security Council, to consider tougher sanctions against North Korea.
Fortunately however, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed to work closely together to address their shared concerns about North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.
The South’s Yonhap News Agency reported that South Korean forces fired about 20 machinegun rounds at the suspected North Korean drone.
North Korea Saturday called for the concluding of a peace treaty with the United States and a halt to USA military exercises jointly with South Korea to bring to an end its nuclear tests.
U.S. assistant secretary of state Antony Blinken and his Japanese and South Korean counterparts said on Saturday that a failure to send a clear message would risk further provocations by the North Korean side. They claimed it was a hydrogen bomb, though experts agree it was nearly certainly not. He added that “at this point, what makes their nuclear arsenal more unsafe is not so much explosive power of the bomb, but its size, weight and the ability to deliver it with missiles”.
The writer is co-chair emeritus of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.
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It is time for the Obama Administration to abandon its policy of timid incrementalism and fully implement existing US laws by imposing stronger sanctions on North Korea and to work with Congress to determine additional measures.
