U.S. President Barack Obama slapped North Korea with more stringent sanctions Thursday for defying the world and pushing forward with its nuclear weapons program, weeks after it launched a satellite-carrying rocket into space and conducted its fourth underground nuclear test. South Korea and the United States say they were grave violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
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The Kaesong complex, created in 2004 during a period of rapprochement between the rivals, was the lone exception when South Korea banned all southern trade and investment to North Korea in 2010 in retaliation for the sinking of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors. They said a proportion of the payments received from the South had been funneled into those programs.
The response is a rebuttal of comments made by some South Korean government officials.
In early February a North Korean patrol boat crossed a disputed maritime demarcation line, causing South Korea’s military to fire warning shots at the vessel.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers, many of whom argue Obama has not been tough enough with North Korea, overwhelmingly approved the bill last week and sent it to the White House.
South Korea suspended the operation of a jointly run factory park in the North, closing what had been the last window of regular interaction born out of a summit meeting in 2000, when leaders pledged to work for peace and reconciliation.
Ging said that in a situation where over 40 percent of North Korean children are stunted, there is an accountability attached.
The volcano spans the border between North Korea and China, meaning an eruption could affect both countries.
“If we give up securing our own nuclear deterrent for fear of worldwide opposition and depend unilaterally on the United States, we will become nothing but a chess piece manipulated by big powers”, said Mr Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute, south of Seoul.
This is all despite the rising tensions between North Korea and the worldwide community.
The Obama Administration “has turned a blind eye to the North Korean threat…”
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South Korean officials believe the North deliberately blew up the rocket’s first stage after burnout to prevent South Korea from retrieving debris.
