Closing In on North Korea

After an alleged H-bomb test, the international community is now closing in on North Korea. Even Russia and China are willing to find a way to inhibit North Korea threatening the world with its nuclear arsenal.

Here some quotations from two related articles that appeared on January 14, 2016, on the website of a Philippine daily. Both articles are hinting at the formation of a rare alliance between the U.S., South Korea and Japan on one side as well as China and Russia on the other side.

North Korea’s U.N. mission circulated a report from the country’s news agency saying the Jan. 6 test wasn’t to “threaten” or “provoke” anyone but was indispensable to build a nuclear force “to cope with the U.S. ever-more undisguised hostile policy” toward the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [DPRK], the country’s official name.

It said North Korean scientists and technicians “are in high spirit to detonate H-bombs … capable of wiping out the whole territory of the U.S. all at once as it persistently moves to stifle the DPRK.”

Former Los Alamos National Laboratory director Siegfried Hecker, one of the world’s top experts on North Korea’s nuclear program, said last week he did not believe it tested “a real hydrogen bomb,” and that “North Korea is still a long way off from being able to strike the U.S. mainland.”

But Hecker, who has visited the North seven times since 2004, said in an interview with Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, that the most worrisome result of the test is that North Korea “will have achieved greater sophistication in their bomb design.” He added that “at this point, what makes their nuclear arsenal more dangerous is not so much explosive power of the bomb, but its size, weight and the ability to deliver it with missiles.”

There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the U.S. mission to the United Nations.

The Security Council last approved sanctions against North Korea three weeks after its third nuclear test on Feb. 12, 2013. That resolution was largely negotiated by the United States and China, North Korea’s traditional ally.

South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye called Wednesday [i.e. January 13, 2016] for Chinese help to launch what she calls the “strongest” international sanctions on North Korea over the nuclear test.

The council diplomat said the United States, which is leading the current negotiations, is consulting closely with China but also with other council members, including Japan. The diplomat said a new resolution isn’t expected immediately, likely not in less than three weeks.

[Source: INQUIRER.net, news center related to the Philippine daily INQUIRER on January 14, 2016]

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Opinion from China:



朝鲜任性，韩国舆论怨不得中国

North Korea being headstrong, South Korea's public opinion cannot blame China.

[Source: Global Times 环球时报 on January 15. The above photo
is showing the president of South Korea while delivering a speech.]

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Washington, United States—President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin joined Wednesday [January 13, 2016] in calling for a tough global response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test, even as they remained at odds over Ukraine and Syrian President Bashar Assad.

In a wide-ranging phone call, Obama and Putin appeared to speak past one another about the situation in eastern Ukraine, according to each country’s description of the call. The White House said Obama had called for Russia to fulfill its obligations under a cease-fire deal; the Kremlin said Putin has emphasized the need for Ukraine to meet its commitments under that same deal.

On North Korea’s claim to have tested a hydrogen bomb, at least, the leaders seemed in agreement. The Kremlin said they’d agreed that if proven true, the claim would require “a tough international reaction,” while the White House said they’ve discussed the need for “a strong and united international response.” The U.S. has cast doubt on the North’s claim that its test involved a hydrogen bomb but has said whatever was tested constituted a provocative act.

Despite steep disagreements on Ukraine, Syria and other issues, Obama and Putin have continued to engage on areas where their views at least partially overlap.

The two leaders last met in person in November on the sidelines of a summit.

[Source: INQUIRER.net, news center related to the Philippine daily INQUIRER on January 14, 2016]

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Recent visitors from Russia are interested in North Korean items:





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