Her comments echoed those last week of US Secretary of State John Kerry, who had urged China to take a tougher line with North Korea, warning in a call to his Beijing counterpart that it can not be “business as usual”.
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Earlier on Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted almost unanimously in favor of legislation that will enforce broader sanctions on North Korea following its fourth nuclear test.
North Koreans dance to celebrate what the country claims was a “successful hydrogen bomb” test at Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released by Kyodo January 8, 2016.
The South Korean president also said that closing down the Kaesong industrial park, developed jointly by Seoul and Pyongyang, depends on the future actions of the North Korean leadership, Sputnik reported.
The warning shots were fired near an “unidentified flying object” over South Korea’s border with North Korea, a military official told Reuters, while a news agency said it was a suspected North Korean drone.
“Holding the hands of someone in a hard situation is the mark of the best partner”, Park said, referring to China and South Korea’s need to punish the North. “I trust China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, will play a necessary role”.
Park also urged China, which is North Korea’s most important ally, to rein in its pariah neighbor.
Just days after North Korea heightened global tensions with their H-bomb revelation, the US Navy announced a new missile defence “capable of destroying ballistic missile targets”.
SEOUL-Soon after North Korea detonated a nuclear bomb last week, South Korea’s defense minister sought an emergency call with his Chinese counterpart.
“They know how to build missiles that work, they know how to build submarines that work, and Kim Jong Un seems particularly enthusiastic about both”.
“Truth is the most powerful weapon toward a totalitarian regime”, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said at a news conference Wednesday.
The meeting was aimed at continuing the “close trilateral coordination on North Korea policy and the worldwide community’s response to North Korea’s nuclear test”, it added.
“I think China is fully aware that if such strong will is not matched by necessary measures, we can not prevent fifth and sixth nuclear tests by the North or guarantee real peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula”. She warned that these sanctions must be “strong enough to change North Korea’s attitude” – something that clearly didn’t happen after the first, second, or third nuclear tests.
Last week, North Korea said it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.
The broadcasts – a high-decibel mix of K-pop and anti-North messages – are a red rag to Pyongyang, which had threatened artillery strikes on the loudspeaker units when they were used during a cross-border crisis past year. Still, such leafleting by the North is rare, though South Korean activists occasionally send anti-Pyongyang leaflets in balloons across the border.
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“Knock out the gang of Park Geun-hye who aggravated North-South relations by resuming anti-North psychological warfare broadcasts”, another said.
