South Korea’s foreign minister said on Saturday that North Korea’s nuclear capability has reached a “considerable level”, echoing the alarm aired around the world over the isolated state’s fifth nuclear test brazenly defying 10 years of United Nations sanctions.
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon – “I count on the Security Council to remain united and take appropriate action”.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter called for further pressure on North Korea, but said China bore responsibility for tackling the problem.
North Korea has also been angered by a US and South Korean plan to install an anti-missile defence system in the South and by the allies’ massive annual joint military exercises, which are still taking place.
The statement, which was unanimous and came on the same day as the test, said North Korea’s actions demonstrated a “clear violation” and “flagrant disregard” of existing council resolutions, as well as a threat to global peace and stability.
“Every Pyongyang district, particularly where the North Korean leadership is possibly hidden, will be completely destroyed by ballistic missiles and high-explosive shells as soon as the North shows any signs of using a nuclear weapon”.
In a statement via the state-run KNCA news agency, Pyongyang said the tests had confirmed the movement of nuclear warheads that had “been standardised to be able to be mounted on strategic ballistic rockets”.
China’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Friday expressing firm opposition to DPRK’s nuclear test.
The most powerful test drew worldwide outrage and gave rise to demands for new United Nations sanctions against the country.
It was immediately branded an act of “fanatic recklessness” by South Korea with Pyongyang saying it carried out in the face of growing United States hostility. But its past claims to have achieved that have been discounted.
“We’re trying to monitor to precisely find out what took place”, Kerry said.
He said the French position was that “new sanctions are indispensable”.
But only one nation has the power to deflect North Korea from its unsafe course – China, which must realize that scolding the regime of Kim Jong Un is not enough.
“It is believed that the North’s nuclear capability is becoming more advanced to a considerable level, and at a faster pace”, South Korea’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se said. “There is no way they could do that test in a safe way, and it could easily start a war”. Over that same period, the military has launched an unprecedented 21 ballistic missile launches – more than four times as many as North Korea had ever fired previously.
This week’s events pose yet another challenge for China, which has been under pressure to rein in its increasingly aggressive neighbor.
Zhang made the remarks in a meeting with DPRK ambassador to China Ji Jae Ryong to voice China’s position on DPRK’s nuclear test.
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“It has been described as maniacal by the South Korean president and it’s hard to disagree with that”.
