The report reflects a strong sense of crisis among US experts, in the wake of apparent improvement in North Korea’s capability to miniaturize nuclear weapons and its technology to launch ballistic missiles. According to him, Indonesia can not directly intervene in North Korea’s issues because of its distance from the country.
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The North’s Foreign Minister’s announcement comes after American bombers this week flew over South Korea in a show of solidarity with its ally following the North’s latest nuclear test. It is simply not in China’s interest to risk losing an ally on its border only to have it replaced by a US -backed state hosting missile-tracking systems and other military forces targeting it.
North Korea is perhaps the world’s most isolated country.
Ambassador Cho Tae-young told Indonesian students on Wednesday that South Korea highly appreciated Indonesia’s consistent and strong disapproval of North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile tests. “While we saw this work in Iran, over time countries can adjust to sanctions”, he said and indicated that North Korea has adjusted with the sanctions to continue with its nuclear pursuit.
“Assessment by South Korean and U.S. intelligence is that the North is always ready for an additional nuclear test in the Punggye-ri area”, he said.
Atop his agenda is rallying member states behind ongoing efforts to formulate a new UN Security Council resolution following the North’s fifth atomic blast on September 9.
US envoy Sung Kim stated, according to Reuters, that it was the intent of the U.S.to “secure the strongest possible (U.N. Security Council) resolution that includes new sanctions as quickly as possible” against North Korea for its latest act of defiance.
Informed sources say that the North will have enough Pu/HEU to build 20 bombs by the end of the year and seven bombs per year after wards.
The commission further added that South Korea’s background radiation presently stands at the usual level of 50-300 nanosieverts per hour, obviously unaffected by North Korea’s nuclear test.
As he departed for NY on Saturday from Incheon International Airport, South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Byung-se told reporters, “We are now discussing in-depth ways to supplement the UN Security Council Resolution 2270 and for North Korea to feel pain for its additional nuclear test”.
Kerry urged the North to freeze its nuclear program and return to the negotiating table.
The U.N. chief was asked about the possibility of traveling to Pyongyang to de-escalate tensions and open a new channel of diplomatic communications, “also in view of your possible candidacy as president of your country next year”.
North Korean despot Kim Jong-un may have banned satire but that doesn’t mean the state isn’t producing its own. He also warned that provocations will only deepen the North’s isolation.
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The North 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. Beijing also remains anxious about the prospect of a unified Korean peninsula which will bring Washington right to its doorsteps. The Six-Party Talks (though they are close to being defunct) and the UN Security Council Resolution 2270 are the best and most convincing evidence of this.
