“In line with this commitment and the gravity of this violation, the members of the Security Council will begin to work immediately on appropriate measures”, they said, under Article 21 in the UN Charter that allows for sanctions and other non-military forms of discipline.
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Seoul will try to persuade the United Nations Security Council to pursue a new sanctions package to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test in three ways, a senior foreign ministry official said on Sunday.
North Korea on Saturday sought to justify its weapons programme as a defence against U.S. nuclear “blackmail” as world powers debated ways to punish Pyongyang for its fifth and most powerful atomic test.
Earlier, the South’s Yonhap news agency reported Seoul’s plan to use its missiles to “decimate” areas of Pyongyang if there were signs the North was about to launch a nuclear attack, citing a military source.
Power said the Council will take additional significant steps, including new sanctions, to demonstrate to North Korea that there are “consequences to its unlawful and unsafe actions”.
After its fourth test in March, sanctions were toughened to include North Korea’s mineral trade and stricter banking restrictions.
South Korea’s Park said late on Friday Kim was “mentally out of control”, blind to all warnings from the world and neighbours as he sought to maintain power.
“We believe new sanctions are indispensable”, French Ambassador Francois Delattre said. He also recalled the position of his country of support to the denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, while advocates a total prohibition of such types of tests and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons with a view to total disarmament.
What has the United Nations said?
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States had repeatedly offered talks to North Korea, but Pyongyang had to accept de-nuclearisation, which it had refused to do.
The country is already in talks with the U.S.to install a missile-defense system, and the military source told Yonhap it would use ballistic missiles against North Korea if necessary.
North Korea is likely exaggerating its abilities-it wouldn’t be the first time-but its weaponry is improving, and this alone ought to concentrate minds.
“Having witnessed with alarm what happened to Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi and Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, North Korea is deadly serious in believing its nuclear weapons are the only guarantee that can ensure its survival against an invasion by the US”, he said.
Analysts also said China was unlikely to take very strong action against Pyongyang, with which it has close ties dating back to the cold war.
On Friday, North Korea launched a nuclear test that sent seismic magnitude-5.0 shockwaves throughout the Korean peninsula.
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North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test on Friday that culminated with Pyongyang’s 68th anniversary. “And the North has every technological, political, strategic and national reason to continue testing both nuclear devices and missiles, particularly if it wants fully functioning nuclear-tipped missiles”. “South Korea left unguarded before nuclear maniac”, read the banner headline of the top-selling Chosun Ilbo. The collaborative approach would have been effective but regrettably the United States preferred to hurl threats on North Korea aggravating the situation further.
