South Korea on Friday welcomed stringent new U.S. sanctions against North Korea, anticipating it will help curb Pyongyang’s provocative behaviuor.
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Earnest said the White House hoped the sanctions will “serve to increase pressure on North Korea”.
On Feb. 7, a day the US populace was distracted by the Super Bowl, North Korea launched a long-range rocket carrying an Earth-observation satellite that the United Nations called a “dangerous and serious violation of global restrictions”.
“It imposes mandatory sanctions on individuals who contribute to North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile program, its malicious cyberattacks, its censorship activities and the regime’s continued human rights abuses”, he added.
The two Koreas joined the United Nations together in 1991, during former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo’s term.
During the briefing, the NIS, citing studies on past North Korean provocations and other unspecified assessments, said the attacks could target anti-Pyongyang activists, defectors and government officials in South Korea, the party official said requesting anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to media publicly.
The North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act, which was signed into law by President Obama on Thursday, had both Democrats and Republicans voting in agreement.
Talks this week between Seoul and Washington could also see an agreement to deploy the American missile defence system, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence System (THAAD), in South Korea. “We believe there are no more significant debris left”, a military official said.
Rebuild the U.S. Navy – Along with imposing sanctions, Cruz suggests beefing up the United States Navy by increasing funding for protection.
Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat and sponsor of the bill, said he hoped the U.N. Security Council and China, in particular, will “take notice of this strong showing of USA leadership” and work to put in place similar measures.
Pyongyang has warned that the deployment of the anti-missile system could be a source of regional tension. Confrontations between the rivals deepened recently following the North’s nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.
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“The trade relation that North Korea has with China is very significant to the country’s national economy and to its internal stability”, said Yun, an expert on Chinese foreign policy at the East Asia Program of the Stimson Center in Washington.
