14 September, 2017
Pyongyang's threat came on Monday, 11 September, the day the United States has called for a vote at the UN Security Council to punish the North for its 3 September nuclear test, its sixth and most powerful, in violation of UN regulations.
Stage one involves eliminating North Korean nuclear and missile facilities before a nuclear weapon can be fired once an imminent strike is detected. The U.S. proposed slashing projects employing North Korean workers overseas, but instead accepted sanctions aimed at gradually scaling them back.
North Korea's embassy in Lima declined comment.
The Security Council resolution approved a watered-down version compared with what the United States and its allies had sought: a full embargo on North Korea's crucial crude oil supply, which would have crippled the country.
North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on September 3, building on a series of missile tests over the summer that prompted stern warnings from President Donald Trump and raised fears of a new war.
She added that the U.S. is not looking for war with North Korea and Pyongyang has "not passed the point of no return".
Facing pressure from the U.S. and North Korea's wary neighbors in South Korea and Japan, China agreed to apply more pressure to the Kim Jong Un regime.
The resolution bars countries from issuing new permits to the roughly 93,000 North Korean labourers working overseas.
"Months of provocations by North Korea and steady news reports about a looming crisis compounded by the unpredictable styles of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump appear to be affecting public sentiment", said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Dongkuk University. The Republican platform says roughly the same: "We urge the government of China to recognize the inevitability of change in the Kim family's slave state..."
According to North Korea, the U.S. "is trying to use Pyongyang's legitimate self-defensive measures as an excuse to strangle and completely suffocate it". Or, will Moscow and Beijing seemingly acquiesce to more robust sanctions only to pay the Security Council resolution no heed? A previous provision capping the number of North Korean laborers made way for a ban on new work authorizations. A Gallup poll on Sunday showed a growing number voicing fears of the North Korean nuclear threat and supporting hardline policies, regardless of age and ideological preferences.
Beijing may accept the suggestion that the People's Liberation Army march across China's border with North Korea to create a safety zone in order to build shelters for refugees and stem a massive refugee inflow into China's northeast. This summit will formulate proposals that will speak as one voice to Pyongyang and invite North Korea to sustained dialogue aimed toward a plan that takes their security goals seriously.
US Permanent Representative Nikki Haley called an emergency meeting of the Council last Monday but faced with Chinese and Russian resistance agreed to put off a vote on sanctions till this Monday. A previous version would have allowed countries to stop and board vessels thought to be breaking United Nations sanctions.
In Hong Kong, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon told the South China Morning Post the results of a USA -led investigation into alleged Chinese intellectual property theft would be announced before the Beijing summit to reset bilateral trade. Following on from the Obama administration's sanctions past year, the Trump administration is not specifically targeting North Korea's nuclear and missile programs but is seeking to cripple the country economically.
