Kim Hong-kyun, Seoul’s special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs at the foreign ministry, spoke with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei on the phone and discussed countermeasures in response to the North’s fifth nuclear test conducted on Friday, according to the ministry.
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NORTH KOREA’S latest nuclear test has been condemned by the United Nations which promised new sanctions against the country’s regime.
“It is believed that the North’s nuclear capability is becoming more advanced to a considerable level, and at a faster pace”, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se told senior ministry officials, calling for “more and stronger sanctions”.
She added: “We will take additional significant steps, including new sanctions to demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences to its unlawful and unsafe actions”.
South Korean conservative activists set fire to a portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un during a protest Saturday.. However, the speed with which North Korea is modernizing its nuclear and missile programme through indigenous research and development could one day present formidable threat.
“In addition to action in the Security Council, both the United States and Japan, together with the Republic of Korea, will be looking at unilateral measures, as well as bilateral measures, as well as possible trilateral cooperation”, he said, referring to South Korea by its official name.
A ballistic rocket launch drill of the Strategic Force of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) is seen at an unknown location.
“As we’ve made clear, measures to strengthen the national nuclear power in quality and quantity will continue to protect our dignity and right to live from augmented threats of nuclear war from the United States”, KCNA added. After detonating its first nuclear device in 2006, the North carried out other tests in 2009, 2013 and January of this year.
The spokesperson also urged the U.S. to recognize North Korea as a “legitimate nuclear weapons state”.
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While China, its closest ally, could be pressed to take the strongest possible action by blocking the transportation of fuel and oil but that could have grave consequences for the general population, the CNN said.
