(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon). South Korean army soldiers walk by a signboard showing the distance to the North Korean capital Pyongyang and to South’s capital Seoul from Imjingang Station near the border village of the Panmunjom in Paju, Sunday, Sept. 11, .
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Meanwhile, Kyodo News reported that North Korea’s foreign minister arrived in Beijing on Monday.
The US has said it is considering its own sanctions along with any imposed by the UN Security Council.
The UN has adopted five rounds of crippling sanctions on the North since it first tested an atomic device in 2006 despite the nation’s critical situation, including its worsening starvation.
Last week, North Korea conducted its fifth and largest nuclear test, saying it has the ability to mount a warhead to an intercontinental ballistic missile, prompting fears of an imminent attack.
The South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, denounced the test as a clear violation of security council resolutions banning the North from developing nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.
Japan will seek a “fresh resolution” including “fresh measures”, Koro Bessho, Japanese ambassador to the United Nations, told reports after the meeting, calling for additional sanctions against North Korea.
Moon refused to say what specific evidence pointed to another possible nuclear test. The first test was conducted in the first tunnel, while the second, the third and the fourth detonations came from the second tunnel. Yonhap did not elaborate. Following Obama’s speech, in which he maintained that the U.S. would never accept North Korea as a nuclear state, Pyongyang hit out at the soon-to-be former president.
South Korean reports suggest the United States is set to send a B-1B bomber from Guam to the Korean peninsula on Tuesday, in a show of strength and solidarity with Seoul.
“We can’t assume that China is going to solve this for us”, Fitzpatrick said.
South Korea’s military put the force of the blast at 10 kilo tonnes, which would still be the North’s most powerful nuclear blast to date.
The city, the source said, “will be reduced to ashes and removed from the map”. It previously called Park a “prostitute”.
Obama reaffirmed, as he has done repeatedly following North Korean ballistic missile launches, the United States commitment to “take necessary steps to defend our allies in the region”, namely South Korea and Japan.
The North has yet to demonstrate that it had deployed nuclear-capable missiles.
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United States troops have been based in South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War of 1950-53 ended only in an armistice and not a full peace treaty. Thousands of U.S. soldiers are stationed in South Korea and Japan.
