Tuesday’s summit was the first between Park and Obama since their last meeting held on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C.in March.
Advertisement
Mr. Obama also said the USA has an “unwavering” commitment to a missile-defense system for South Korea to deter the threat of North Korea and that bolstering the sanctions would involve closing loopholes in existing sanctions.
Warning of the risk of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, France’s U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters that “weakness is not an option” and urged “quick and firm” council action.
Park told reporters North Korea’s move was “fundamentally threatening the security” of the Korean Peninsula.
Obama – who noted that the recent launch took place while China was hosting the G20 Summit – said the two leaders had “extensive” discussions over the incident and added the two nations are “united in condemning North Korea’s continued missile launches”. North Korea state media is reporting that the premier considers Monday’s tests “perfect”.
They landed in the Sea of Japan 125 to 155 miles west of Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s main islands, the Japanese Defense Ministry said.
“South Korea and the United States will sternly counter the North’s provocations using all possible measures”, Park said.
At the same, however, China voiced its disapproval Monday of a South Korea-U.S. missile shield in the region. In addition to the summit being held nearby in China, the launches occurred three days after the US and South Korea concluded annual war games and ahead of the 68th anniversary of its own founding. Obama went on to the Lao capital for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. “Unification will offer the opportunity to the North Korean people of equal treatments”. “Instead, he will meet with President Park of the Republic of Korea”.
Last month, worries about the North’s weapons programs deepened after a missile from a North Korean submarine flew about 310 miles, the longest distance achieved by the North for such a weapon.
If those missiles are equipped with nuclear warheads “they don’t have to get too many up in the air and past the missile defense system to have an effect”, Lewis says.
Firing a missile almost straight up, whether from submarine or land, would also increase its effectiveness against THAAD.
Advertisement
The launch also came four days before the 68th anniversary of the establishment of the North Korean regime and Kim has already marked the historic year with the country’s test of a hydrogen bomb. It called them “grave violations” of a ban on all ballistic missile activity.
