US calls to intensify sanctions

WHITE HOUSE: NORTH KOREA HAS BEEN FLAGRANT MENACE FOR FAR TOO LONG

Latest missile landed 500km from Russian border.

President Donald Trump called for tougher sanctions against North Korea after it test-fired a ballistic missile yesterday in an apparent attempt to test the South’s new liberal president and the US.

“Let this latest provocation serve as a call for all nations to implement far stronger sanctions against North Korea,” the White House said in a brief statement.

The missile flew more than 700km before landing in the Sea of Japan.

It impacted “so close to Russian soil ... the president cannot imagine that Russia is pleased”, the White House said, adding that North Korea “has been a flagrant menace for far too long”.

Russia’s defence ministry later said the missile landed about 500 km from its border and posed no threat.

Trump’s national security adviser, HR McMaster, held phone conversations with his counterparts in Japan and South Korea to discuss the situation.

China, which has been under growing US pressure to help rein in the nuclear-armed North, called for restraint.

“All relevant parties should exercise restraint and refrain from further aggravating tensions in the region,” the foreign ministry said.

Multiple sets of UN and US sanctions against North Korea have done little to deter it from pursuing its nuclear and missile ambitions.

Before the missile test, the US Treasury said it was considering “every tool in our arsenal” to cut off sources of financing for illegal activities in the North.

Trump has threatened military action but recently appeared to have softened his stance, saying he would be “honoured” to meet leader Kim Jong-un under the right conditions.

New South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who was inaugurated on Wednesday, has also been conciliatory. But he slammed the missile test as a “reckless provocation” after holding an emergency meeting with national security advisers.

Moon said Seoul strongly condemned this “grave challenge to the peace and security of the Korean peninsula and the international community”.

Moon, unlike his conservative predecessors, advocates reconciliation with Pyongyang but warned yesterday that dialogue would be possible “only if the North changes its attitude”. – AFP