This undated file photo shows the B-1B supersonic bomber scheduled to fly over the skies of South Korea this week in a show of power amid North Korea’s growing threats. If anything Japan and South Korea need to question the “fountain head” for this technology which has brought the world to this point where a virtual rogue state now has nuclear weapons, said US analysts, adding that “even the Pakistani President in 2006, General Pervez Musharraf, had accused A.Q. Khan of profiting from nuclear related commerce but did nothing to punish other members of the Pakistani establishment who were involved in nuclear trade with North Korea”.
Advertisement
President Barack Obama vowed on Friday to push for new worldwide sanctions in retaliation for the “grave threat” posed by North Korea’s latest nuclear test.
Sung Kim, the U.S. special envoy to North Korea said the UN Security Council along with Japan, South Korea and the United States are examining additional unilateral measures. Yonhap did not elaborate. Mr Kim, director of the Korea Defense Intelligence Agency, made the remarks during a meeting with South Korea’s ruling party chief Lee Jung-Hyun, according to party spokesman Yeom Dong-Yeol.
But bad weather Monday also delayed a US plan for at least 24 hours to send warplanes from Guam to South Korea, as it has done in the past after major provocations by North Korea.
Obama reaffirmed, as he has done repeatedly following North Korean ballistic missile launches, the U.S. commitment to “take necessary steps to defend our allies in the region”, namely South Korea and Japan.
While recounting Pakistan’s role in the development of the North Korean Nuclear Program, experts said what A.Q. Khan started in the late 1990’s is “now coming home to roost and the two most threatened nations are Japan and South Korea”.
Yonhap, citing an unidentified military source, said Sunday that the plan would turn areas in Pyongyang, where the North’s war commanders were likely to hide, into ashes and “eliminate those places from the map permanently”.
There has reportedly been rising criticism of the South Korean government as it works to isolate the country to the north, but has failed to dissuade President Kim Jong-un from further nuclear enhancements. North Korea and the US are technically still in a state of war, since the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. Along with the United States, both Japan and South Korea need to review their ties with Pakistan because North Korea’s fifth nuclear test has now changed everything in the Asian theatre.
Stay on topic – This helps keep the thread focused on the discussion at hand.
Advertisement
Be proactive – Use the “Flag as Inappropriate” link at the upper right corner of each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
