Under 32-year-old leader Kim, North Korea has sped up development of its nuclear and missile programmes, despite United Nations sanctions that were tightened in March and have further isolated the impoverished country.
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He said the specific details of the United States unilateral sanctions had yet to be decided, but added that both the U.S. and Japan were looking at “a full range of possibilities, in terms of additional unilateral sanctions that can be implemented”.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said the council must use “every tool at its disposal” including new sanctions “to demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences for its unlawful and unsafe actions”.
North Korea has said it will not submit to United States “nuclear blackmail”, following the West’s condemnation of its fifth and largest nuclear test.
North Korea has been testing different types of missiles at an unprecedented rate this year, and the capability to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile is especially worrisome for its neighbors South Korea and Japan. The collaborative approach would have been effective but regrettably the United States preferred to hurl threats on North Korea aggravating the situation further.
In Seoul, dozens of protesters burned an effigy of the North’s leader Kim Jong-Un and called for “strong retaliation”, including pre-emptive attacks on the North’s nuclear complex.
The United Nations Security Council members said they will begin to work immediately on appropriate measures against the Asian country.
Russian Federation has urged all parties to remain calm and not to escalate the already tense situation, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressing that the UN Security Council resolutions “must be observed”, while saying that Moscow is “very concerned about the test”. As Commander in Chief, I have a responsibility to safeguard the American people and ensure that the United States is leading the global community in responding to this threat and North Korea’s other provocations with commensurate resolve and condemnation.
North Korea’s boast of a technologically game-changing nuclear test defied both tough worldwide sanctions and long-standing diplomatic pressure to curb its nuclear ambitions. The regime, which has repeatedly flouted Security Council resolutions barring its ballistic missile activities, has conducted at least 22 launches this year, according to USA officials. But unless the rest of the world does something about North Korea, Japanese domestic opinion could continue to swing towards exercising its own nuclear option.
The threat of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and missiles has surely increased.
British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said there were a series of steps the Security Council could take to respond to Friday’s nuclear test.
The North is believed to have succeeded in making nuclear warheads small enough to arm Scud missiles to hit South Korea or Rodong middle-range missiles to attack Japan, Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies told AFP.
“Eliminate Kim Jong-Un!” and “Destroy North Korea’s nuclear weapons!” the elderly activists shouted. Officials told DH that New Delhi would remind the worldwide community the proliferation track record of Pakistan, which has of late been demanding that its plea for admission into the Nuclear Suppliers Group should be considered on a par with that of India.
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The government in Seoul will take “all diplomatic and military efforts to counter North Korea’s continued provocation”, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs Kim Kyou-Hyun told reporters on Sunday.
