U.S. B-1 bomber, center, flies over Osan Air Base with South Korean jets in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016.
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Beijing’s official People’s Daily newspaper on Wednesday called the United States a troublemaker and said it has no right to lecture China about taking responsibility for reining in North Korea as tensions on the peninsula are a direct result of USA actions.
South Korea in July announced plans to deploy THAAD, a sophisticated USA missile defense system, to counter growing nuclear and missile threats from the North.
North Korea said its latest test proved it was capable of mounting a nuclear warhead on a medium-range ballistic missile, but its claims to be able to miniaturise a nuclear device have never been independently verified.
Kim Hong-kyun said such a resolution would seek to “close the loopholes” in the existing sanctions as well as to place “pressure on North Korea from all directions so that it will no longer be able to operate normally in the global community”.
B-1B Lancer bombers deployed by the USA military flies over Osan Air Base, south of Seoul, on September 13, 2016.
Days before the nuclear test, North Korea launched what were believed to be three mid-range Rodong missiles into the Sea of Japan as China was hosting the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou.
The United States and South Korea vowed Tuesday to push for the “strongest possible” resolution at the UN Security Council, including new sanctions and the removal of existing loopholes, to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test.
North Korea labelled the flyover by the “infamous” nuclear bombers as Washington’s attempt to seek “an opportunity of mounting a preemptive nuclear attack”, referring to USA plans to deploy further strategic assets to the peninsula.
North Korea conducted its fifth and largest nuclear test on Friday, the 68th anniversary of the state’s founding, near its Punggye-ri nuclear site in North Hamgyong province in the country’s northeastern region, where the detonation triggered a 5.3-magnitude natural disaster.
Sung Kim, the USA special envoy for North Korean policy, met South Korean officials in Seoul on Tuesday and said that Washington is working closely with other nations to work out new, stronger sanctions on North Korea.
“South Korea and the USA have agreed to use all possible methods to put more pressure on North Korea”.
“Left unchecked, Pyongyang will likely develop the capability to reach the continental United States with a nuclear tipped missile in a decade or so”.
The agency said the death toll and the number of missing people were based on North Korean government data.
Japan’s Lower House and Upper House of the National Diet have passed resolutions earlier to condemn North Korea, following its previous four nuclear tests. The divide over the missile system, not to mention an array of other disputes between China, its neighbors, and the United States, will make a united front against Kim Jong-un’s latest provocation hard to build.
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The two Koreas are locked in a military stalemate since the end of their 1950-1953 war.
