07 September, 2017
Swiss President Doris Leuthard said Monday that Switzerland was ready to act as a mediator and use its special role in worldwide diplomacy to host talks to help solve the current tensions, which were escalated after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) conducted its sixth nuclear test.
Ms Leuthard said Swiss troops were deployed on the demarcation zone between South Korea and North Korea and the country had a long history of neutral diplomacy.
When asked by a Swedish journalists to comment on the current situation in the Korean Peninsula, she said, "I think the Swiss position like the Swedish is always that we are ready to offer our role for good services as a mediator". "Now is the time to sit down at the negotiating table", she told a news conference.
Leuthard said: "I think in the upcoming weeks a lot will depend on how the USA and China can have an influence in this crisis".
On Sunday, North Korea officially announced a successful test of a hydrogen bomb that could be used as a warhead for an intercontinental ballistic missile.
But China and the United States had to take their share of responsibility, she added, warning of "over-reactions" that could lead to a disastrous nuclear confrontation. In her words, "it's really time for dialogue".
Switzerland maintained its impartial stance through World War I when it mobilized its army and accepted refugees. But China and the United States had to take their share of responsibility, she added, warning against "over-reactions" after the North's sixth and largest nuclear test. Sanctions "did not change many things" in terms of convincing Pyongyang to abandon its weapons programs, even though its population had suffered, Leuthard said. Their words and actions continue to be very hostile and risky to the United States.
The UN Security Council has scheduled a second emergency meeting in a week about North Korea after a powerful nuclear test explosion added another layer of urgency for diplomats wrestling with what to do about the North's persistent weapons programmes.
"We live now for many years with sanctions".
On Tuesday, South Korea's navy conducted a massive live-fire drill in an apparent show of force following the DPRK's nuclear test.
