S Korea, US vow more pressure against N Korea
SEOUL: US President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart have pledged “stronger pressure” on Pyongyang, Seoul said on Sunday, after North Korea defied tough new sanctions with a missile test and said it wanted to match American nuclear strength.
The international community is scrambling to contain an increasingly belligerent North Korea, which in recent weeks has prompted global alarm by conducting its sixth and largest nuclear test and firing long-range missiles over Japan that it says could reach the US mainland.
In a phone conversation Sunday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Trump “gravely condemned” the latest missile test on Friday, which came just days after the UN Security Council announced a raft of new sanctions against Pyongyang.
“The two leaders agreed on more practical and stronger pressure... to make the North Korean regime realise that further provocation will only bring stronger diplomatic isolation and economic pressure leading to a path of collapse,” the South’s presidential office said in a statement.
Pyongyang says it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself from “hostile” US forces and is determined to build a weapons system capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to hit the US mainland.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who oversaw the latest missile test, has said the launch increased the “combat power of the nuclear force”, according to the North’s official KCNA news agency.
KUWAIT ORDERS NORTH KOREA ENVOY TO LEAVE Kuwait has given North Korea’s ambassador a month to leave the Gulf state and will downgrade its diplomatic representation with Pyongyang, a senior Kuwaiti diplomat told AFP on Sunday.
North Korea’s diplomatic presence in the emirate will be reduced to a charge d’affaires and three diplomats, the source said.