U.S. presidential hopeful Sanders under fire for missing Senate vote on Pyongyang sanctions

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders came under fire for missing a Senate vote to approve a set of stringent sanctions on North Korea in response to Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests.

The senator from Vermont was among four in the 100-member Senate that did not vote on the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2016. The legislation passed in a 96-0 vote, demonstrating bipartisan support for a tough response to the North.

The campaign of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton slammed Sanders.

"It is unfortunate that yet again, Senator Sanders has shown a lack of interest in vital national security issues, failing to vote on sanctions against the country he said poses the greatest threat to the United States," Clinton campaign spokesman Jesse Ferguson said after Wednesday's vote, according to news reports.

Sanders was quoted as saying that he had to be "necessarily absent," but the increased sanctions were "absolutely essential" to ending North Korea's nuclear program.

His absence from the vote came after he said during a TV debate last week that he was most worried about North Korea, calling the regime "a very, very strange country."

Other presidential hopefuls in the Senate cast their votes, including Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has said that he would get China to make North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "disappear" if he's elected president.

"I would get China to make that guy disappear, in one form or another, very quickly," Trump said Wednesday on the CBS television program "This Morning."

Trump also stressed the importance of China's influence.

"China has absolute control of North Korea, they won't say it, but they do. And they should make that problem disappear," Trump said, adding that the U.S. needs to use its power and influence over China. (Yonhap)