North Korea is ready to “counter-attack” in the face of ongoing “provocation” from the United States, its foreign minister said Thursday amid a spike in tension caused by Pyongyang’s latest nuclear test.
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South Korea’s foreign minister, Yun Byung-se, appeared in no mood Sunday to consider negotiations with his country’s arch-rival, in view of Pyongyang’s repeated defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions and sanctions. Their motives may be less mercurial than U.S. analysts and the New York Times imagine: based on its own history, China believes stronger sanctions would be ineffective and ultimately counterproductive.
“With all sides focused on the authoritative channel of the Security Council, China opposes unilateral sanctions that are unhelpful to resolving the issue”, the statement paraphrased Wang as saying, without elaborating. They also discussed the important work now taking place in the Security Council to further sanction North Korea and considered other possible measures of their own, in particular ways to further restrict revenue sources for the DPRK’s missile and nuclear programs, including through illicit activities.
Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital and most populous city. This kind of exercise is carried out annually and constitutes a clear provocation to the government of North Korea.
It doesn’t help matters that Beijing views USA and South Korean actions – like joint military exercises – as exacerbating the issue by ramping up North Korea’s fears of attack. “According to the news report, “[KMPR] is meant to launch pre-emptive bombing attacks on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the country’s military leadership if signs of their impending use of nuclear weapons are detected or in the event of a war”.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will seek Cuba’s help in responding to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes during a rare visit to Havana next week, a spokesman said.
US bombers overflew Osan Air Base south of Seoul Tuesday to express anger over the North’s most recent tests. Had Truman not believed China was a pawn of the Soviet Union, he may have attempted to talk with Mao before China steered its armies into Korea.
According to Stafford, what Beijing really wants to avoid is the collapse of Kim’s regime and reunification with the South – resulting in a unified Korea with a pro-U.S. foreign policy and American troop presence. Given Beijing’s unique relationship with the rogue nation, why hasn’t China taken steps to rein in North Korean leader Kim Jong Un? In the past two decades or so, China has made tremendous efforts in this regard. During the 2016 Rio Olympics, gymnasts Hong Un Jong of North Korea and Lee Eun-ju of South Korea, took their famous selfie together regardless of the bitter and unsafe standoff that exists between the two Koreas.
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Its recommendations include further restrictions on imports and exports of coal, iron and precious metals and the prohibition of oil exports to North Korea; restrictions on the supply of aviation fuel and a ban on civilian aviation; a ban on bulk cash transfers to and from North Korea; blocking the use of North Korean laborers in third-country projects; and “a downgrading of North Korean diplomatic representation”.
