Japanese PM: Time for North Korea dialogue is over

NEW YORK: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared the time for dialogue with North Korea is 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 in recent weeks has detonated another 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 on Wednesday: “We consistently support the stance of the United States: that ‘all options are on the table’.”

Abe said that the world has already tried exhaustively to reach a negotiated settlement with North Korea, starting with the USbacked 1994 Agreed Framework which collapsed a decade later.

“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.

He voiced alarm at North Korea’s military progress, which he said had brought the regime to the threshold of mastering hydrogen bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles, which would be able to strike the United States.

Abe demanded the strict implementation of UN sanctions on Kim Jongun’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.

But years of sanctions have had limited effects on North Korea, which follows a “juche” ideology of selfreliance and counts on neighbouring China as its economic lifeline. — AFP