North Korea’s latest nuclear test triggered diplomatic aftershocks in Asia – and a growing concern that the volatile regime in Pyongyang may pose the first big test for the next USA president.
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US Defense Secretary Ash Carter, on a visit to Norway, also reaffirmed an “iron-clad” commitment to defend South Korea and condemned the North Korean test on Friday as a direct challenge to the entire worldwide community. Its epicentre was 18 km (11 miles) east-northeast of Sungjibaegam, North Korea, the USGS said. After an emergency meeting with her chief aides and cabinet members in Vientiane President Park released a message strongly condemning the North’s fifth nuclear test.
Christopher Hill, the former United States ambassador to South Korea, said Friday it’s time to stop guessing about North Korea’s capabilities and start planning a response.
In March, the UN Security Council imposed its toughest sanctions yet on Pyongyang, after North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test.
“The members of the Security Council will begin to work immediately on appropriate measures under article 41 in a Security Council resolution”, New Zealand’s Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen, who holds the council’s rotating presidency, told reporters after the urgent talks.
The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said the latest development made plain that the US and South Korean strategy on restraining North Korea “has clearly failed”.
“This is more than brazen defiance”, Ms Power told reporters at the United Nations headquarters.
China called for “restraint and moderation”, but South Korea urged the West to increase sanctions against its Northern neighbor, referring to the test as an act of “fanatic lack of responsibility”.
China’s ambassador Liu Jieyi didn’t confirm whether his country would green-light sanctions.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye, in Laos after a summit of Asian leaders, said Kim was showing “maniacal recklessness” in completely ignoring the world’s call to abandon his pursuit of nuclear weapons. It took two months of negotiations mainly between the U.S. and China.
During a meeting behind closed doors, the council strongly condemned the test and agreed to begin drafting a new resolution under article 41 of the United Nations charter, which provides for sanctions.
For North Korean propagandists, the news the country had carried out its fifth nuclear test was a glorious confirmation of Kim Jong-Un’s might.
At the time, analysts concluded that North Korea’s nuclear arms program was not a major security threat.
Some still doubt North Korea can make a warhead small enough, or miniaturize it enough, to mount atop a missile.
United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said reducing tensions on the Korean peninsula is one of the most serious issues facing the world because the impact of North Korea’s use of nuclear weapons would be far greater than the casualties in Syria and other conflicts.
He said he spoke with South Korean Defence Minister Han Min-koo after the test and “reaffirmed our iron-clad commitment to the defence of South Korea and our other allies in the region”.
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“But I regret to tell you that it has not been materialized because of many different situations, mainly caused by North Koreans’ provocative actions”, Ban said.
