US warns of tough sanctions

SOUTH Korea and the US have agreed on “swift punitive measures” against North Korea in the event of more provocation, although the US has signalled sanctions and diplomatic pressure are its priorities for now.

As a standoff escalated over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and longrange ballistic missiles, South Korea said deployment of a US anti-missile defence system was moving ahead a day after protests against the battery and fierce opposition to it from China.

“The two sides pledged that in the event of additional strategic provocation by the North to swiftly take punitive measures including a new UN Security Council resolution that are unbearable for the North,” the South’s presidential office said after national security adviser Kim Kwanjin phoned his US counterpart H.R. McMaster.

The US and North Korea have stepped up warnings to each other in recent weeks over the North’s development of nuclear weapons and missiles in defiance of UN resolutions.

US President Donald Trump has vowed to stop North Korea from being able to hit the US with a nuclear missile.

While it has warned “all options are on the table”, the Trump administration said yesterday it aimed to push the North into dismantling its weapons programs through tougher sanctions and diplomatic pressure, and remained open to talks.

The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group is still approaching Korean waters, where it will join the USS Michigan nuclear submarine.

Meanwhile, the White House is giving the Pentagon greater flexibility to determine the number of US troops in Iraq and Syria, in another move by Mr Trump to shift greater power to military leaders.

Defence Secretary Jim Mattis will have authority to send more forces into Syria, to assist US-backed local troops. It will also let him adjust force numbers in Iraq, in the fight to oust IS from Mosul and stabilise it.