South Korea President Speaks Against Seoul Making Nuclear Weapons

(Kim Hong-ji/Pool Photo via AP).

North Korea, the economy and reform were the main focuses of her speech, while Park also took time to criticize the National Assembly for idling. This is Kwon Soa, reporting live on the South Korea, U.S., Japan talks in Seoul.

The request comes after Seoul claimed North Korea had dropped leaflets across the border describing their government as “mad dogs”.

“Though South Korea has expressed reluctance in the past, it is necessary to have a discussion about better missile defense cooperation, including the emplacement of THAAD on the peninsula”, he said.

Tensions remain high along the demilitarized zone after South Korea resumed propaganda broadcasts last week in retaliation to the nuclear test by the Kim Jong Un regime.

South Korean troops fired at a North Korean drone that briefly penetrated the South’s airspace on Wednesday afternoon.

She added, “The global community’s countermeasures against North Korea’s last nuclear test must differ from the past”.

Her stance was backed hours later by a meeting in Seoul of the US, Japanese and South Korean special envoys on North Korea.

South Korean soldiers fired warning shots at a suspected North Korean drone that crossed the tense border.

People watch a TV news program showing North Korea’s announcement, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un inspecting a firing contest.

“China’s basic stance is that the North Korean nuclear problem should be resolved through negotiations”, Cheong Seong Chang, a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute near Seoul, said by text message.

“We understand their concern about instability on the Korean peninsula, but the fact of the matter is that the current status quo is destabilising where you have nuclear tests”, he told a news briefing.

As the communist state has been under United Nations sanctions for its three previous nuclear tests, a mere reiteration of past restrictions will not be sufficient this time, according to the president. Meanwhile, under United Nations resolutions, North Korea is banned from furthering any ballistic missile activity.

“We strongly urge the DPRK (North Korea) side to remain committed to its denuclearization commitment, and stop taking any actions that would make the situation worse”, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said.

Beijing has recently shown signs that it’s losing patience with North Korea over its repeated provocations.

Beijing is seen as reluctant to clamp down on the North because of fears that a toppled government in Pyongyang would lead to millions of desperate North Koreans flooding across the border to China.

Last week US Secretary of State John Kerry urged China to take a tougher line with its neighbour, telling his Chinese counterpart in a phone call that it can not be “business as usual”. His reported remarks sparked speculation in Seoul that China has no intention of joining in any harsh punishment on the North.

South Korea, still technically at war with the North since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, has for days been blaring propaganda through loudspeakers across the border.

Kim “set forth the important tasks to be fulfilled to bolster up the nuclear force”, it said, and called for the “detonation of more powerful H-bomb in the future”.