The US and South Korean presidents vowed today to impose the “most powerful and comprehensive” sanctions on North Korea after its globally condemned fourth nuclear test.
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South Korea’s presidential office said in a statement that Ms Park and Mr Obama had agreed to closely co-operate and that the global community “must make sure that North Korea pays the corresponding price” for the nuclear test, reported Yonhap news agency.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama talked by phone with South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the worldwide response to North Korea’s nuclear test. If the claims are confirmed, it would mark a major upgrade in North Korea’s nuclear capability.
North Korean claims of its first hydrogen bomb test are indeed the stuff of nuclear nightmares.
North Korea is rattling nations around the world with an unannounced test of a powerful bomb. India and Pakistan have also conducted nuclear tests since then and are among eight countries including the United States and China preventing the treaty coming into force.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry is holding an emergency meeting after reports of the seismic disturbance, the ministry told CNN.
Kerry stated the United States does not recognize North Korea as a nuclear state. Any testing would be a violation of New Year’s resolutions.
Pearson said his worry is the threat of United Nations sanctions – he says North Korea could turn around and sell any nuclear technology it has to terror groups like ISIS in retaliation.
North Korea claimed its hydrogen bomb was “miniaturized” to fit on a missile – which would be a huge engineering achievement – also unlikely.
The Republicans added North Korea to a list of what they assert are Obama’s foreign policy failures, including Syria’s civil war, the rise of Islamic State and the agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear programme.
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Pyongyang’s latest act of belligerence may even prompt new discussions on the reintroduction of United States tactical nuclear weapons into the South. The last such weapons were withdrawn in the early 1990s, although South Korea remains firmly under Washington’s nuclear umbrella.
