North Korea blamed the United States on Wednesday for pushing Pyongyang toward becoming a nuclear weapons state, citing sanctions and US nuclear threats as underlying causes.
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United Nations-The UN Security Council failed to agree Tuesday on a statement condemning North Korea’s launch of a missile that landed near Japan after China sought to include language opposing the U.S. missile defense system in South Korea.
Outside the Security Council, Beijing has expressed opposition to the planned American deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile defense system in South Korea.
“The actions that we have taken with the Republic of Korea are purely defensive”, said Samantha Power, the USA ambassador to the United Nations, following the August 3 launch. “She is well aware of the real direction of the THAAD anti-missile system”, the editorial read.
The Aug. 3 consultations were requested by council members Japan and the US, with support from South Korea. And now Japan’s newly appointed Defence Minister has ordered his military to be ready to destroy any missiles fired by North Korea.
In its report “War with China: Thinking through the Unthinkable”, the Rand Corporation highlighted the dangers North Korea poses to South Korea and its allies. He made an elaborate state visit to Seoul while shunning North Korea and its young leader, Kim Jong-un, whom he has yet to meet.
Relations between Washington and Pyongyang have steadily deteriorated since January, when North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test then test-fired numerous ballistic missiles. South Korea agreed in July to allow the USA military to deploy THAAD there by 2017, immediately drawing criticism from China. Chinese media is justifiably apprehensive that system’s radar coverage can also be extended to monitor Beijing’s missiles and seeing it as a clear, present and substantive threat to China’s security interests.
Meanwhile, China has laid the blame on South Korea, most recently in an editorial in the state-run People’s Daily.
China, Pyongyang’s closest ally, had sought to delete from the text a sentence expressing concern that the missile “impacted near Japan”.
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“This is all about expanding the United States’ missile defense system, not serving South Korea’s needs”, says Choi Jong-kun, a professor of political science and worldwide studies at Yonsei University in Seoul. DPRK is an acronym for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.
