US raises heat on N Korea, warns of tighter sanctions

The US plans to activate a missile defence system in South Korea “within days” and introduce more economic sanctions against North Korea amid rising fears about Pyongyang’s military advances.

President Donald Trump “aims to pressure North Korea into dismantling its nuclear, ballistic missile, and proliferation programmes by tightening economic sanctions and pursuing diplomatic measures with our allies and regional partners,” secretary of state Rex Tillerson, defence secretary Jim Mattis and director of national intelligence Dan Coats said in a joint statement.

Sanctions on North Korea already in place include a ban on trade and a blacklist of anyone dealing with North Korea.

A White House official said an option under consideration was to put North Korea back on the state department’s list of countries that sponsor terrorism, BBC reported.

North Korean government property in the US remains frozen and US exports to, or investment in, North Korea are banned, the report said.

Admiral Harry Harris, Commander of the US Pacific Command told lawmakers on Wednesday that the missile defence system known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defence or THAAD would be “operational in the coming days to be able to better defend South Korea against the growing North Korea threat.”

The system is designed to bring North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “to his senses, not to his knees,” Admiral Harris said.

North Korea meanwhile agreed to host a UN rights expert for the first time, granting access next week to the special rapporteur on disabled people’s rights, the world body said on Thursday. Catalina Devandas-Aguilar is scheduled to arrive in the isolated nation on Wednesday following an invitation from Pyongyang, the UN rights office said in a statement. Her visit will be the first ever to the country by an independent expert designated by the UN Human Rights Council.