South Korean President seeks Chinese help for tougher sanctions on North Korea

Seoul’s representative Hwang Joon-kook, the Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, and his USA and Japanese counterparts Sung Kim and Kimihiro Ishikane are here to discuss ways to respond to the North’s provocative act, which has been condemned by the worldwide community.

“It was a process indispensable for carrying out the WPK’s line on simultaneously carrying out the economic construction and the building of nuclear force to cope with the U.S. ever-more undisguised hostile policy toward the DPRK”, the agency said.

She also called on China, the North’s major ally, to play a “necessary role” in applying strong sanctions against Pyongyang so it does not conduct further tests.

President Park Geun-hye also told a news conference that South Korea will continue the propaganda broadcasts into North Korea that her government resumed in retaliation for the North’s bomb test.

The official declined to say how many shots were fired.

In a show of strength on Sunday, a nuclear-capable US B-52 bomber – flanked by South Korean F-15 fighter jets and US F-16 planes – flew over Osan Air Base, about 70km south of the inter-Korean border. Beijing has repeatedly expressed its concern over a THAAD deployment, which China sees as a security threat.

China quickly reacted to Park’s remark. “This is a message to China to actively participate in punishing the North”. It’s a process that could mean pressure on banks that now do business with North Korea – including some in China. But she said, Chinese help was crucial.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula, however, continued to intensify this week, at least rhetorically. “A true partner offers a helping hand in hard times”.

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.

The UN is already working on new sanctions against the country.

Bitterly antagonized by the South Korean action, the North has reportedly reinforced frontline troops. “This was a demonstration of the ironclad U.S. commitment to our allies in South Korea and in Japan”, Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, said in a statement. Hong specifically mentioned conversations between both foreign ministers and the Chinese and South Korean officials in charge of the long-defunct Six Party Talks.

Park suggested the government and the labor compromise on the two most disputed bills that involve expanding the scope of dispatched workers and extending the maximum period of temporary workers. She broke a longstanding presidential tradition by visiting China before Japan after taking office in 2013, although the United States was her first overseas destination.

The US House measure prohibits the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, arms-related materials, luxury goods, and counterfeit goods, and it also mandates sanctions against any individual or entity that materially contributes to North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile development or provides training on weapons programs.

“The fact the North Korean balloons have reached South Korea is the proof that our effort to send balloons to North is still the valid and effective system to send a message to people living under the regime”.