Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday declared the time for dialogue with North Korea to be over and rallied behind a US warning that “all options” are on the table.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, Abe said “there is not much time left” to take action on North Korea, which over the past few weeks has detonated a sixth nuclear bomb and fired a series of missiles over or near Japan.
A day after US President Donald Trump threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea if it attacks, Abe said: “We consistently support the stance of the United States: that ‘all options are on the table.’”
The world has already tried exhaustively to reach a negotiated settlement with North Korea, starting with the US-backed 1994 Agreed Framework that collapsed a decade later, Abe said.
“Again and again, attempts to resolve issues through dialogue have all come to naught. In what hope of success are we now repeating the very same failure a third time?” he said.
“What is needed is not dialogue, but pressure,” he added.
US Vice President Mike Pence, addressing the UN Security Council on Wednesday, repeated that “all options are on the table” — even if he used more traditionally diplomatic language than Trump.
“If we are forced to defend ourselves and our allies, we will do so with military power that is effective and overwhelming,” Pence said.
Abe demanded strict implementation of UN sanctions on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s regime, the latest round of which includes a ban on the country’s textile exports and a freeze on work permits to North Korean guest workers.
However, years of sanctions have had a limited effect on North Korea, which follows an ideology of Juche, or self-reliance, and counts on neighboring China as its economic lifeline.
China — which has grown frustrated by Kim’s actions, but also fears the consequences of his regime’s collapse — has repeatedly urged dialogue, with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) on Tuesday urging an end to the “current deepening vicious cycle.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday said she had a “clear disagreement” with Trump.
“I am against such threats,” said Merkel, who has been openly critical of Trump in the run-up to Germany’s election on Sunday.
“We believe that any kind of military solution is completely deficient and we support diplomatic efforts,” she told Deutsche Welle radio.
At the UN, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven also voiced concern over Trump’s bellicose tone and urged dialogue in tandem with the sanctions.
“There is no military solution, because that would be a disaster, not only for North Korea, but for South Korea, the whole peninsula, Japan,” Lofven told reporters.
Seoul, one of the world’s biggest cities and economic engines, is just 55km from North Korean front lines — meaning millions of lives could be at risk if conflict breaks out.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is a longtime dove, but has agreed with Trump to ratchet up pressure on North Korea in the face of the crisis.
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