Put ‘greatest possible pressure’ on North Korea

Earlier Wednesday, the USA proposed a resolution at the UN that would include broad new sanctions on North Korea and freeze the assets of leader Kim Jong Un in the wake of global concern over the rogue nation’s nuclear weapons tests.

Since 2006, the Security Council has unanimously adopted eight resolutions ratcheting up sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs. He told reporters before his departure from Japan that “We must make North Korea understand there is no bright future for the country if it pursues the current path”. The two leaders had a “very, very frank and very strong call”, he added.

Speakers at the rally said the North’s military “will put an end to the destiny of the gangster-like United States imperialists through the most merciless and strongest preemptive strikes if they and the hordes of traitors finally ignite a war”, KCNA reported.

Oil is Beijing’s most powerful potential weapon. Analysts have said China may only agree to a partial or temporary oil exports ban. Such a move would be radical since the USA imports about $40 billion in goods a month from China. Four launchers have arrived at Seongju military base despite opposition by residents and activists, Yonhap News reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for talks with North Korea, saying sanctions are not a solution.

“As I told my colleagues yesterday, they will eat grass but will not stop their program as long as they do not feel safe”, Putin said. “I’m asking for Russia’s cooperation”. The sanctions were said to have the potential to cut the Asian state’s $3 billion annual export revenue by a third, but Russian Federation questions their effectiveness.

“It is not worth giving in to emotions and driving North Korea into a corner”.

“Any new actions taken by the worldwide community against the DPRK should serve the goal of curbing the DPRK’s nuclear and missile programmes, while at the same time be conducive to restarting dialogue and consultation”, he said, using the initials of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “But sanctions are only one facet”.

Despite a range of punitive measures imposed by the global community, the Pyongyang regime has achieved its nuclear ambition.

Pyongyang’s pledge, made in a statement by its delegation to an economic forum in Russia’s Far East, came after the United States said it wanted the U.N. Security Council to impose an oil embargo on North Korea, ban the country’s exports of textiles and the hiring of North Korean labourers overseas, and subject leader Kim Jong Un to an asset freeze and travel ban, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters on Wednesday. “Cutting this flow would likely have an immediate and costly impact on North Korea’s economy”, said Eurasia Group in a report. Top administration officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Pentagon chief Jim Mattis, briefed members of Congress on the crisis Wednesday.

“The time for half-measures in the Security Council is over”. And it shows a dedicated effort to really get at the sanctions-evasion going on inside of China, but then also the financing that is touching the USA financial system.

But Brendan Thomas-Noone from the US Studies Centre said North Korea now has technology that allows it to launch missiles from road mobile launchers, on any flat surface. Putin called for all sides to calm down. He says making these sorts of statements without backing them up with action simply emboldens North Korea. “Now is the time, when everyone needs to stay calm more than ever before and avoid taking steps that may escalate tensions”, Putin said.

– Dozens of people were injured in clashes between South Korean protesters and police Thursday as the USA military added more launchers to the high-tech missile-defense system it installed in a southern town to better cope with North Korean threats.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, said that a search that U.S authorities carried out at Russia’s diplomatic facilities was an attempt to prove that Moscow meddled in USA presidential elections, TASS state news agency reported.

China is North Korea’s largest trading partner and is seen by many observers as having the most influence over the hermit state.