South Korea fires warning shots at suspected drone near border

The incident Wednesday took place hours after South Korean President Park Geun Hye held a nationally televised press conference in which she urged China to help draw up the “strongest sanctions” against North Korea as punishment for the 6 January test.

China joined the global community in condemning North Korea’s latest provocation, but it shares a bond with Pyongyang cemented during the Korean War.

“In this process, China’s role is crucial”, Park said.

“The best partners are those who will hold your hand in hard times”.

She noted that Beijing, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has stated repeatedly that it would not tolerate the North’s nuclear program.

“Under this bill’s framework, anyone laundering money, counterfeiting goods, smuggling or trafficking narcotics will be subject to significant sanctions”, Royce said.

That is especially true among the many North Koreans who have turned to private trade to survive after starvation in the 1990s ended government hand-outs and crippled a state rationing system, laying the foundation for a now-thriving gray-market economy.

Her stance was backed hours later by a meeting in Seoul of the US, Japanese and South Korean special envoys on North Korea. It marked Li’s first public activity since North Korea announced it successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb last Wednesday.

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

She said the use of this psychological warfare measure stirs unrest amongst the populist in the North and unnerves the Pyongyang leadership that tightly controls the state run media.

“It takes two to tango”.

“We are cooperating closely with the United States and allies to come up with effective sanctions that will make North Korea feel bone-numbing pain, not only at the Security Council but also bilaterally and multilaterally”, she said in a speech. While the secondary boycott provisions are not compulsory, the Department of the Treasury and other agencies would be required to investigate financial institutions over a six-month period for North Korean accounts suspected of money laundering.

The immediate cause for alarm was the claim that North Korea had tested a thermonuclear weapon, far more devastating than your usual run-of-the-mill nuclear device. In terms of the secondary boycott, the bill would require the Secretary of the Treasury to report any reasonable grounds for concluding North Korea to be a “priority money laundering concern” to Congress within 180 days of the law taking effect.

However, South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo points out that Seoul has not been able to get in touch directly with Xi Jinping.

To become law, it must be passed by the U.S. Senate and signed by President Barack Obama.

The K-pop is meant to show North Korea that the world has modernized, the Defense Ministry says.

There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the USA mission to the United Nations. Beijing reportedly opposes the THAAD deployment in the region because it could be used potentially to intercept Chinese missiles.

President Park said, “North Korea conducted a surprise 4th nuclear experiment in the new year, but even in a provisional session of the National Assembly electoral districts have not been decided”.