US President Barack Obama has called for the full implementation of sanctions against North Korea after it fired three ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan.
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The U.N. Security Council, which last month strongly condemned earlier missile launches, was expected to meet later Tuesday to discuss the latest round.
President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday called for closer cooperation with Japan in countering North Korea’s provocations and bringing about its denuclearization, saying the communist state’s evolving nuclear and missile programs pose a “serious” threat to both countries.
United Nations resolutions bar North Korea from any use of ballistic missile technology, but Pyongyang has carried out several launches following its fourth nuclear test in January.
The deputy chief of South Korea’s mission to the United Nations said the global community should send a clear and unequivocal message to North Korea.
“The members of the Security Council deplore all Democratic People’s Republic of Korea ballistic missile activities, including these launches, noting that such activities contribute to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s development of nuclear weapons delivery systems and increase tension”, the 15-member Council said in a statementyesterday.
North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, Obama said, are a threat to not only South Korea, but also to Japan and other USA allies and partners in the region, and a threat to the United States.
He also alluded to China, a traditional ally of North Korea that signed onto tightened sanctions in March.
Park said the U.S.
The White House noted the USA remains committed to moving ahead with the planned deployment of a major anti-missile system in South Korea. But Beijing fears its powerful radar could be used against its own military.
A photo carried by the North’s state-run Rodong Sinmun on Tuesday shows a missile taking off on a mobile launching pad in Hwangju County in North Hwanghae Province.
On Monday, the North fired three Rodong medium-range missiles off its east coast.
South Korea and the U.S.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry also announced Tuesday that top USA and South Korean nuclear negotiators will hold talks in Seoul next week to discuss North Korea’s “repeated military provocations”.
Park said she expressed her gratitude to Obama for clearly expressing the unwavering commitment of the US for South Korea’s defense.
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His string of purges, including executions, have continued, and a top-level diplomat recently defected from the country’s embassy in London.
