US prepared to use military might to rein in North Korea

[chahlley]

(World Today Friday 7 July 2017)

US prepared to use military might to rein in North Korea

TV screens show a local news program reporting about North Korea's missile firing

with an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at Yongsan Electronic store in Seoul,

South Korea, Thursday, July 6, 2017. Photo: AP

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Published: 4:00 AM, July 7, 2017

WASHINGTON —The United States has raised the spectre of military action to deal with North Korea, as it warned that the path to a diplomatic solution is narrowing after the regime’s recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test.

Washington also proposed wider United Nations (UN) sanctions against “any country that does business with this outlaw regime”, a move that appeared to be aimed especially at China, North Korea’s most important trading partner.

As tensions on the Korean peninsula threaten to overshadow a summit of world leaders at a G20 meeting in Germany, US President Donald Trump vowed yesterday to confront North Korea “very strongly” following its latest missile test and urged nations to show Pyongyang that there would be consequences for its weapons programme.

His warning came hours after the US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said Pyongyang’s long-range missile test on Tuesday was a “clear and sharp military escalation” that marked the latest in a series of North Korean actions that were “quickly closing off the possibility of a diplomatic solution”.

“The US is prepared to use the full range of our capabilities to defend ourselves and our allies,” Ms Haley said at the UN Security Council on Wednesday (US local time). “One of our capabilities lies with our considerable military forces. We will use them if we must, but we prefer not to have to go in that direction.”

Her comments came after General Vincent Brooks, the US commander in South Korea, warned Pyongyang that his forces were prepared for any war — as North Korea claimed its new ICBM could be nuclear-armed.

The proposal for broader sanctions appeared aimed especially at China.

It was part of a vocal public effort by the Trump administration to push President Xi Jinping by linking improved American-Chinese trade relations to solving the North Korea problem. It also threatened worse trade relations if Beijing does not do more.

“There are countries that are allowing, even encouraging, trade with North Korea,” Ms Haley told the Security Council.

If such countries want good trade relations with the United States, “that’s not going to happen”, she said.

“We will not look exclusively at North Korea,” added Ms Haley in outlining the toughened American position. “We will look at any country that does business with this outlaw regime.”

Ms Haley did not specifically threaten Beijing, but she emphasised that 90 per cent of North Korea’s trade is with the Chinese and that “much of the burden of enforcing UN sanctions rests with China”.

US President Trump said yesterday that he was considering a “pretty severe” response to North Korea’s ICBM test, even as China appealed for a scaling down of rhetoric.

“I call on all nations to confront this global threat and publicly demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences for their very, very bad behaviour,” said Mr Trump during a visit to Warsaw before joining other world leaders for the G20 meeting.

“I have pretty severe things that we’re thinking about,” he added, without elaborating. “That doesn’t mean that we’ll do them.”

Mr Trump has repeatedly urged Pyongyang’s chief backer China to rein in the Stalinist state, taking to Twitter this week to publicly berate Beijing for not squeezing the North hard enough on trade.

China yesterday reiterated its call for more moderate language from all sides.

“We also call on relevant parties to stay calm, exercise restraint, refrain from words and deeds that may heighten tensions,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters.

China’s Vice-Finance Minister yesterday warned the US not to use North Korea’s missile tests as an excuse to impose sanctions against Chinese financial institutions.

“As a Security Council permanent member, China will of course implement all relevant resolutions,” said Mr Zhu Guangyao.

“But the US should not use their domestic laws as excuses to levy sanctions against Chinese financial institutions.”

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in and Mr Xi agreed at a summit meeting yesterday that North Korea’s ICBM launch was “unforgivable”, reported Yonhap News Agency.

The leaders of the two countries also discussed stronger sanctions and pressure against North Korea at the meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit, said Yonhap.

Mr Moon also said that the North had made a disappointing and misguided decision to conduct an ICBM test-launch and it now faced the last chance to make the right choice.

“We do not wish for the collapse of North Korea and we will not pursue any form of unification by absorbing the other. We will not pursue unification by force,” he said. AGENCIES