Under the 32-year-old, who took over control of the isolated state after the death of his father Kim Jong Il in 2011, North Korea has sped up its nuclear weapons programme despite United Nations economics sanctions being tightened in March.
Advertisement
“We expect that China, as one of the Security Council member states, should take this issue seriously and play a very constructive role to come up with a very effective and strong sanctions resolution”, a South Korean foreign ministry official said.
The North’s latest nuclear test was the most powerful to date and its claim to have used “standardized” warheads sparked worries it was making headway in its push to develop small and sophisticated warheads to be topped on missiles.
South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye met political leaders on Monday seeking unity in the face of the threat from the North.
Yonhap reported that a planned US military B-1B bomber flight to the Korean peninsula had been scheduled for Monday but was delayed because of bad weather.
A USA special envoy for the isolated state, Mr Sung Kim, will travel to Seoul on Monday.
Those districts which are thought to be hiding the leadership would be particularly targeted and the city “will be reduced to ashes and removed from the map”.
The allies said they are working to have it operational by the end of 2017.
It has also experimented with submarine-launched ballistic missiles – potentially meaning it could sneak up on Britain or the USA and fire an apocalypse rocket from the water. The United States, Britain and France – three of the five veto-wielding permanent members – pushed for the 15-member body to impose new sanctions.
It was not clear whether the Security Council can reach consensus on imposing fresh sanctions any time soon. “If the US locates its bombers in South Korea, it will help deter threats from the North”, Moon Keun-sik, an analyst at the Korea Defense and Security Forum, said. She was responding to calls by President Barack Obama for China to tighten up sanctions against Kim Jong Un’s regime prior to its fifth – and biggest – nuclear test last week.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday a “creative” response was needed.
The Global Times, run by the Chinese Communist Party, rejected the suggestion by the United States that Beijing was responsible for the North’s pursuit of nuclear arms.
Yonhap said the US military will try again Tuesday to fly two B-1 bombers, capable of carrying 24 atomic weapons, over its main air base near Seoul.
Advertisement
Shortly after the newest provocation, Beijing quickly issued a statement carrying its “resolute opposition” to North Korea’s nuclear development and urging it to comply with the UNSC resolutions. “Washington has been refusing to sign a peace treaty with Pyongyang”.
