The US is ready to hold talks with North Korea if the conditions are right, but would also press UN sanctions to punish Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile tests, a senior envoy for Asia said yesterday.
North Korea, which tested a nuclear device in May, has said it was boycotting often stalled six-country talks on ending its nuclear arms program and will expand its nuclear arsenal in order to defend itself against a “hostile” US.
“We have to be clear that under the right circumstances, we should be prepared to sit down with North Korea if they would abandon their nuclear ambitions,” US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said upon arriving in Seoul ahead of talks with South Korean officials.
“There have to be consequences for these provocative actions so the United States is working in the international community, with the United Nations, to put forward a robust set of sanctions and unilateral actions that are designed to send a clear message to Pyongyang,” he said.
The last round of the disarmament-for-aid talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the US was held late last year as the term of former US president George W. Bush was nearing its end.
The UN Security Council on Thursday expanded the list of North Korean bodies and individuals under sanctions for nuclear and missile activities, adding its atomic energy agency and two of its top officials.
The announcement of the list followed a month of committee haggling after the Security Council expanded UN sanctions against North Korea in a June 12 resolution that responded to a nuclear test Pyongyang carried out on May 25.
The sanctions are aimed at cutting off North’s arms trade, a vital source of hard currency for the cash-short state.
North Korea has rattled the security in the region with the nuclear test, threats to attack the South and the test-launch of seven ballistic missiles earlier this month in defiance of a UN resolution barring the reclusive state from firing ballistic missiles.
South Korean government officials said the military moves were aimed at building internal support for leader Kim Jong-il, 67, who is reportedly in poor health and wants to prepare for his youngest son to succeed him in Asia’s only communist dynasty.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS