South Korea, the US and other countries are pushing hard to get North Korea punished over the bomb test. Soon after the test, diplomats at a U.N. Security Council pledged to swiftly pursue new sanctions on the North. But it’s unclear whether China, the North’s last major ally and a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, would cooperate on any tough sanctions that could force a change in the North.
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In this January 7, 2016 photo, visitors use binoculars to see North Korean territory from the unification observatory in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea.
The leaflets that dropped into Mr Lee’s yard over the weekend are among almost a million floated south by the Pyongyang regime as part of a psychological war that has intensified since North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test early this month.
North Korea’s calculation in creating another nuclear provocation is that China’s need for stability on its periphery and its geostrategic anxiety about a unified Korea allied with the United States will protect Pyongyang from retribution and give it the space it needs to survive.
The messages, which can carry up to 15 miles, proclaimed that the nuclear test is making North Korea more “isolated and turning it into the land of death”, and slammed the North Korean leader’s taste for luxury goods.
It begs the question: why would anyone who has successfully managed to escape North Korea – from where travel is highly restricted – want to return?
“We believe that China has a special role to play given the special relationship that it has with North Korea”, Blinken told reporters after meeting with South Korean officials. The appointment had not been announced by the North Korean regime as of Monday.
Pyongyang’s claim of a hydrogen bomb test has been contested by experts, who say that the impact of the test was not as large as it should have been if a hydrogen bomb was tested.
‘The United States should surrender its anachronistic hostile policy against the North immediately!’ Only if the global community can impose a freeze on North Korea’s nuclear and missile development will there be a prospect that Kim might move back to denuclearization.
Last week, South Korean troops fired warning shots at a North Korean drone that crossed the demarcation line, prompting its retreat.
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This piece originally appeared on the Washington Examiner. All comments must abide by CFR’s guidelines and will be moderated prior to posting.
