South Korean President Park Geun-hye urged China to help punish North Korea for its fourth nuclear test last week, calling for an unprecedented global response to stop North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.
Park’s comments at a televised news conference yesterday came a day before South Korea’s nuclear envoy was scheduled to meet with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing. Representatives from Japan, South Korea and the US are set to meet separately in Seoul yesterday to discuss tougher sanctions against Pyongyang.
With China being North Korea’s biggest trading partner and a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, Park is urging Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to use his influence to rein in Kim. She offered a reminder of the deepening ties between the two nations since she took office in 2013, and of China’s open opposition to its impoverished neighbor’s development of nuclear arms.
“The best partner is one that holds your hand when you’re having a difficult time,” Park said at her presidential office. “China has repeatedly shown determination it won’t tolerate North Korea’s nuclear arms. I believe China knows well that North Korea’s fifth and sixth nuclear tests can’t be avoided and true peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula can’t be guaranteed unless that determination turns into real necessary measures.”
Kim is seeking to use the momentum from Wednesday last week’s test to develop stronger nuclear arms.
On Tuesday, he called for an improvement in the “quality and quantity” of his country’s atomic weapons and praised the scientists responsible for creating the bomb that was detonated last week, the official Korean Central News Agency said.
Tensions on the peninsula have risen since North Korea tested the device that it claims was a hydrogen bomb. The government in Seoul has resumed propaganda broadcasts critical of the Kim regime in the demilitarized zone and the US has flown a B-52 long-range bomber over South Korea in a show of force.
North Korea’s official media have called the bomber mission a move that “pushes the situation to the brink of war.”
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