North Korea’s latest atomic test was its fifth, and the second in eight months. It will raise serious worries in many world capitals that North Korea has moved another step closer to its goal of a nuclear-armed missile that could one day strike the U.S. mainland.
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North Korean nuclear tests are usually heralded by chatter among analysts about preparations at Punggye-ri but there had been little discussion in recent weeks over any signs.
South Korea’s Park, in Laos after a summit of Asian leaders that Obama also attended, said Kim was showing “maniacal recklessness” in completely ignoring the world’s call to abandon his pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Japan’s ambassador to Canada says North Korea’s nuclear test on Friday was a “clear violation” of United Nations Security Council resolutions and that Japan has to be prepared for military action if necessary.
“The U.S. desperate moves for unilaterally putting sanctions and stifling the DPRK are a disgusting crime against humanity aimed at subversion of the social system of a sovereign country”, the report said, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Clinton then hit back at Trump by saying that this was another reminder that America must elect a president who can confront the threats we face with steadiness and strength.
“We are opposed to testing and we believe that it is more urgent than ever to work together to ensure denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”, Liu said.
“And we need a president committed to reducing – not increasing – the number of nuclear weapons and nuclear states in the world”, she added in a likely reference to Trump’s past suggestion that Japan should be encouraged to develop its own nuclear weapons.
Before flying back home, she ordered a National Security Council meeting and held a meeting with her chief aides traveling with her and condemned the North Korean regime for ignoring global calls for it to give up its weapons vowing stronger countermeasures against the North. Park chaired an immediate meeting as soon as she arrived at her office.
Under 32-year-old dictator Kim Jong Un, North Korea has accelerated the development of its nuclear and missile programmes, despite United Nations sanctions that were tightened in March and have further isolated the impoverished country.
“Kim Jong-Un’s regime will only earn more sanctions and isolation. and such provocation will further accelerate its path to self-destruction”, she said, warning his obsession with creating a nuclear arsenal posed a grave challenge.
More recently, after the North Korean nuclear test in January, Trump said the United States should pressure China – Pyongyang’s closest ally – to rein in its close ally because it has “total control” over its neighbor. Pyongyang could conceivably use that in the future to get itself into a better negotiating position in talks with Washington. “There’s a window before and after U.S. presidential elections where they’ve done things before, so they’ll be putting themselves front and center and neither candidate has really said much about what they’ll do”.
“I would let Pyongyang know in no uncertain terms that it can either get out of the nuclear arms race or expect a rebuke similar to the one Ronald Reagan delivered to Muammar Ghaddafi in 1986”, when the United States president launched airstrikes against Libya for sponsoring terrorism, Trump wrote.
“Sanctions have already been imposed on nearly everything possible, so the policy is at an impasse”, said Tadashi Kimiya, a University of Tokyo professor specializing in Korean issues.
She spoke after meeting with a bipartisan group of national security experts in New York City. “Nor should they expect China to solve this problem for the United States”.
TOKYO (AP) – Mark up another first for North Korea – two nuclear tests in one year. The latest one adopted in March imposes the most severe sanctions yet on the country, including an export ban and asset freeze.
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An act passed by Congress gives the administration the power to sanction non-North Korean entities acting as an agent for the country – in other words, Chinese companies and financial institutions.
