US piles pressure on China to help with N. Korea sanctions

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday called for China to play “a special role” in strengthening sanctions against North Korea to punish it for its latest nuclear test in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

North Korea’s relationship with Beijing was cemented during the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.

“Everything is on the table” at the UN Security Council, Blinken said about the sanctions being considered.

Blinken will meet with Chinese diplomats in Beijing on Thursday, ahead of a scheduled trip to China by US Secretary of State John Kerry next week, as Washington seeks to ramp up pressure on Beijing. The four other members are the U.S., Britain, France and Russian Federation.

South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye warned that, “if strong and effective measures are not taken this time, the global community could send the wrong signal to North Korea that it can’t help it if North Korea conducts a fifth or sixth nuclear test”, according to Yonhap news agency. “North Korea is the greatest source of instability in the region”, the visiting U.S. envoy said. Still, North Korea managed to get around sanctions and pursued its nuclear weapons programs.

A large amount of emails impersonating the South Korean presidential office and the foreign ministry had been reportedly sent to Seoul government officials to poll opinions about Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test.

“We reconfirmed our joint goal that North Korea should be made to pay a corresponding price for its misdeed”, Lim said, standing alongside with Blinken.

Analysts in the United States, South Korea and Japan, however, have remained skeptical of the North’s claims of an H-bomb test.

North Korea has a track record of waging cyberattacks on South Korea and the U.S.in recent years, though it has flatly denied any involvement.