A top American diplomat has warned North Korea it is “begging for war” and urged the UN security council to impose the toughest sanctions possible on the North regime, according to the Guardian.
The statement made by Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, followed Donald Trump’s phone discussion with South Korean president Moon Jae-in in which it was agreed that the North’s latest nuclear test was an “unprecedented” provocation.
North Korea carried out its sixth and more advanced nuclear test on Sunday. The underground blast of an hydrogen bomb sparked a magnitude of 6.3 tremor and was more powerful than the bombs dropped by the US on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the second world war.
Noting that an approach of incremental sanctions since 2006 had yielded no result, Haley said;
“The time for half measures in the security council is over.
The time has come to exhaust all of our diplomatic means before it’s too late.”
She added;
“Nuclear powers understand their responsibilities, and Kim Jong-un has shown no such understanding. His abusive use of missiles and his nuclear threats show that he is begging for war.
War is never something the United States wants. We don’t want it now. But our country’s patience is not unlimited. We will defend our allies and our territory.”
Haley disclosed that the US would circulate a resolution this week seeking for an approval by next Monday. Haley riding on Trump’s charade also said the US would target countries trading with Pyongyang.
“The United States will look at every country that does business with North Korea as a country, that is giving aid to their reckless and dangerous nuclear intentions,” she said.
“The stakes could not be higher,” she stressed.
Haley reiterated;
“Only the strongest sanctions will enable us to resolve this problem through diplomacy. We have kicked the can down the road long enough. There is no more road left.”