To push for new sanctions against North Korea

The chief nuclear envoys of South Korea, the US and Japan on Wednesday vowed to seek a U.N. Security Council resolution entailing “new, meaningful sanctions” against North Korea, calling Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test a “clear, flagrant violation” of its worldwide obligations.

Beijing is seen as reluctant to clamp down on the North in part because of fears that a toppled government in Pyongyang would see millions of desperate North Koreans flooding across the border with China and a US-backed South Korean government in control of the Korean Peninsula. Kim would be the first American to be held by the North since it released three USA citizens in 2014.

Underscoring tensions at the DMZ, South Korean troops fired warning shots after an airborne object, believed to be a drone, was spotted approaching their territory from North Korea.

China was mentioned as a key player in future negotiations, but Beijing’s cooperation could have limits, given its traditional ties to the North Korea leadership.

On the contrary, the North has refused to engage in denuclearization talks since 2008, and has conducted several nuclear tests and missile launches in that time.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted almost unanimously on Tuesday to pass legislation that would broaden unilateral sanctions that would empower the president to seize the assets of North Koreans involved in illicit activities and to sanction banks from other countries that do business with the Kim Jong Un government.

South Korea’s president has urged North Korea’s only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyang’s recent nuclear test with the strongest possible worldwide sanctions.

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

South Korea’s military said it had found anti-South leaflets in the Seoul area, which it suspects were dropped by North Korean hot air balloons.

It must be now pass the U.S. Senate and requires President Barack Obama signature to become law. As I wrote last week, history indicates China will agree to a tightened sanctions regime, but not one that goes far enough to actually squeeze the North Korean state.

South Korea began propaganda broadcasts against the North near the two countries’ border on Friday.

Describing the resumed propaganda broadcasts as the most effective and powerful tool of psychological warfare, Park indicated that the continued broadcast for the time being.

“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 USA ever-more undisguised hostile policy toward the DPRK”, the agency said.