US urges China to increase sanctions pressure on North Korea

“The two leaders agreed for the two countries to cooperate closely for the adoption of strong and effective sanctions resolutions as a united response by the worldwide community against the North’s nuclear test, and a rocket launch using ballistic missile technology”, Ms Park’s office said in a statement.

She spoke after Sunday’s emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

South Korea and the United States announced after Saturday’s launch that they would begin formal talks on deploying an advanced USA missile defense system called THAAD to South Korea as soon as possible to counter the growing threat of North Korea’s weapons capabilities.

United Nations sanctions imposed on North Korea over the past decade have failed to prevent Pyongyang from expanding its nuclear and missile programs, a United Nations panel of experts says, while the USA has used the North’s activities as a pretext for expanding its military build-up in Asia.

North Korea’s ambassador to London has been summoned to the Foreign Office following Pyongyang’s controversial launch of a long-range rocket.

“In conducting this provocation, North Korea has clearly demonstrated that it is intent on prioritising the development of its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes over improving the well-being of its own people”.

But for the US, THAAD is a “defensive” system oriented “against the North Korean threat” and not for China to surveillance, explained Cook.

He set forth an analysis of the recent North Korean test: the three-stage rocket successfully separated all of its three stages before placing the satellite “Kwangmyongsong-4” into orbit.

Last month North Korea also carried out its fourth test of a nuclear bomb.

Tensions between South and North Korea have escalated once more after the South Korea fired warning shots at a North Korean patrol boat that briefly moved south of the countries’ disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea, Seoul’s defense ministry said on Monday.

However, North Korea’s only ally in the Security Council – China – fears that too severe a sanctions regimen will destabilize North Korea and the region.