In her televised speech on Wednesday, Ms. Park said China should prove its resolve not to tolerate nuclear proliferation.
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Park Geun-hye’s comments came as Seoul said North Korea had flown leaflets across the border describing her and her government as “mad dogs” as Cold War-style propaganda warfare continued between the rivals.
The North released a video of the purported December 21 test on Saturday, showing leader Kim Jong-Un – dressed in a winter coat and fedora hat – looking on as a missile was launched vertically from underwater and ignited in mid air. But she said, Chinese help was crucial.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye said further provocations by the North including “cyber-terrorism” were possible, and said new sanctions should be tougher than those in the past, but did not give specifics.
The sanctions are mandated against any country, business or individual that materially contributes to North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile development, imports luxury goods into North Korea, or engages with Pyongyang in money laundering, the manufacture of counterfeit goods, or narcotics trafficking, according to the legislation. Meanwhile, the Senate convened a closed-door hearing on potential responses to the North Korean nuclear issue on January 11 under Republican Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker, with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Korea and Japan Sung Kim and other administration officials summoned to attend.
As for the North’s fourth nuclear test, Lim forecast that China will to express their discomfort but said its actions would likely by symbolic rather than practical and detailed.
The military fired around 20 machine gun rounds as a warning, the South’s Yonhap news agency reported.
Oh Hyun-min was in middle school when North Korea conducted its third nuclear test in February 2013.
“China’s basic stance is that the North Korean nuclear problem should be resolved through negotiations”, Cheong Seong Chang, a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute near Seoul, said by text message.
Hwang separately said the three countries “agreed to exert utmost diplomatic efforts to work out a strong and comprehensive resolution at the U.N. Security Council”. “I think China is fully aware that if such strong will is not matched by necessary measures, we can not prevent fifth and sixth nuclear tests by the North or guarantee real peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula”. In the latest flyover, the US bomber took off from and returned to an air base in Guam.
The report also said that Kim “set forth the important tasks to be fulfilled to bolster up the nuclear force”, and called for the “detonation of more powerful H-bomb in the future”.
South Korea’s military and police announced Wednesday they have found thousands of anti-South leaflets in Seoul, border towns and other areas.
Police have foiled a bid by defector-turned-activists to send anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.
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Anti-Pyongyang propaganda has been blaring from high-decibel loudspeakers since Friday – the tactic might seem rudimentary but it has a proven track record and led to a landmark cooperation agreement with North Korea last August.
