Published : Sept. 17, 2015 - 18:04
The international community is ratcheting up pressure on North Korea to stop any additional provocations after it threatened to launch a long-range rocket next month, and said that it restarted all nuclear facilities in its Yongbyon complex.
Seoul`s chief nuclear envoy Hwang Joon-kuk (Yonhap)
Seoul stepped up its diplomacy this week to secure international support to forestall Pyongyang’s rocket test, while Washington warned of “severe consequences” for any provocative decision by the communist regime.
A series of Chinese state media outlets condemned the North’s potential provocative moves, with Canadian and Austrian governments reportedly joining the condemnation and urging the North to halt actions that would destabilize the region.
The North hinted this week that it would launch a satellite to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers’ Party on Oct. 10, and that it would continue to strengthen its “nuclear deterrence” to counter what it calls Washington’s hostile policy.
Uriminjokkiri, a propaganda website run by the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, said in a posting Thursday that “no one can take issue with its sovereign right” to launch a satellite and strengthen nuclear deterrence.
After talks in Washington, D.C. with his U.S. counterpart Sung Kim, Seoul’s chief nuclear envoy Hwang Joon-kuk warned Wednesday that Pyongyang would face tougher sanctions and deeper isolation should it set off additional provocations.
“Should North Korea press ahead with what it calls a satellite launch, it would trigger additional (punitive) measures by the U.N. Security Council, and would face more serious isolation,” he told reporters after the talks.
“(We regard) the North’s satellite launch as part of the process of the North advancing its capabilities to deliver its nuclear weapons. The international community including China and Russia has, on various occasions, made it clear that North Korea’s satellite launch is different from other countries’ satellite launches.”
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on the North to stop "irresponsible” provocations, reiterating Washington’s position that it would never accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state.
“There will be severe consequences as we go forward if North Korea does not refrain from its irresponsible provocations that aggravate regional concerns, make the region less safe, and if it refuses to live up to its international obligations,” he said in a press meeting.
“Our position is clear: We will not accept DPRK (North Korea) as a nuclear weapons state, just as we said that about Iran.”
Seoul and Washington plan to discuss North Korea’s potential rocket launch and the possibility of its fourth nuclear test as their senior officials meet in Seoul next week for high-level defense talks, called “Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue.”
Seoul’s Deputy Defense Minister Yoo Jeh-seung, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia Abraham Denmark and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy Elaine Bunn will attend the KIDD meeting.
President Park Geun-hye is expected to use her attendance at the U.N. General Assembly later this month to secure international cooperation in deterring the North from launching a rocket and any other provocative moves.
During her keynote speech at the U.N., slated for Sept. 28, Park is expected to highlight that Pyongyang’s development of nuclear weapons and provocative moves pose the most serious security challenge to Northeast Asia and the world.
Highlighting Beijing’s growing unease at its neighbor’s provocative moves, Chinese state media published a series of articles denouncing North Korea’s reactivation of its nuclear facilities in the Yongbyon complex and other provocative acts.
China’s Xinhua News Agency carried an interview article Tuesday, saying that the North’s provocations would only put itself in a crisis.
“When the North runs its nuclear facilities in the Yongbyon complex, the U.S., Japan and South Korea would not just sit back and watch. They would call for measures by the U.N. Security Council,” the article said.
The Global Times, the English newspaper of the Communist Party of China, also criticized North Korea’s preparations for a rocket launch, saying that China would be put in a difficult situation by the North’s behavior.
According to the Washington-funded Voice of America, Canadian and Austrian governments have reportedly upbraided North Korea for its provocative actions, calling on it to stop its development of nuclear bombs and missiles.
By Song Sang-ho (
sshluck@heraldcorp.com)