South Korea says working with US, Japan on North Korea sanctions

However, China, North Korea’s key ally and a veto-wielding member of the United Nations Security Council, has resisted harsh sanctions sought by the United States and SouthKorea following the North’s January 6 test of a nuclear device Pyongyang claimed is a hydrogen bomb. On Monday, Beijing also criticized the launch as an unnecessary provocation, resulting in meetings with China and South Korea over security measures.

The UN Security Council on Sunday strongly condemned the latest launch, calling it a serious violation of its resolutions.

South Korea said on Sunday it and the United States would begin talks on the THAAD, after North Korea launched a long-range rocket earlier carrying what it has called a satellite.

Mr Obama also revealed that during a conversation with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday, he had discussed the need to “really tighten the noose” on North Korea. North Korea says the satellite has cameras that can send images to Earth. But that could take some years as JSPOC continues tracking the payload and three debris items from North Korea’s December, 2012 missile launch.

It sparked strong worldwide condemnations and resulted in an agreement at the UN Security Council to move quickly to impose new sanctions. The Isolated Communist country launched a satellite in 2012 despite stiff resistance from global community.

With North Korea continuing to develop its nuclear and missile arsenals, analysts in Seoul say South Korea has no choice but to adopt the THAAD battery, which would be deployed at a US base in South Korea, home to about 28,500 American troops.

The Pentagon on Monday, however, confirmed that the North placed a satellite in its orbit.

“China has consistently believed that the method for achieving peace, stability, long-term order and tranquility of the peninsula can only be found through dialogue and reconciliation”, stated Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Sunday. “The launch threatens the global system of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, leading to further deterioration of the situation on the Korean Peninsula”, the ministry said in a statement.

Ken Todorov, a retired brigadier general and former deputy director of the US Missile Defence Agency, told Reuters that North Korea had advanced its capabilities with the latest launch. They said Japan has no diplomatic ties with North Korea, and virtually no trade or other exchanges with the reclusive country, so any additional sanctions would have little impact.