N Korea terror listing hailed
SOUTH Korea and Japan yesterday welcomed US President Donald Trump’s move to put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism, saying it would ramp up pressure on the reclusive regime to get rid of its nuclear weapons.
The designation, announced on Monday, allows the United States to impose more sanctions on North Korea, which is pursuing nuclear weapons and missile programmes in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions.
“I welcome and support [the designation] as it raises the pressure on North Korea,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.
South Korea said it expected the listing to contribute to peaceful denuclearisation, the foreign ministry said in a text message.
North Korea has vowed never to give up its nuclear weapons programme, which it defends as a necessary defence against US plans to invade.
The United States, which has 28 500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean war, denies any such plans.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China had noted the reports on the US decision.
“Currently, the situation on the Korean peninsula is complicated and sensitive,” Lu told a news briefing.
“We still hope all relevant parties can do more to alleviate the situation and do more that is conducive to all relevant parties returning to the correct path of negotiation, dialogue and consultation to resolve the peninsula nuclear issue.”
The move would further weigh on the precarious situation on the peninsula, China’s official Xinhua news agency said in an English-language editorial.
“The prospect of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula has been pushed farther away by one after another irresponsible action or blaring rhetoric,” it said.
This year’s rapid escalation of tension was largely down to a game of chicken between Washington and Pyongyang, it said.
Trump’s relisting of North Korea as a sponsor of terrorism comes a week after he returned from a 12-day trip to Asia in which containing North Korea’s nuclear ambitions was a centrepiece of his discussions.
“In addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation, North Korea has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil,” Trump said at the White House.
“This designation will impose further sanctions and penalties on North Korea and related persons and supports our maximum pressure campaign to isolate the murderous regime.”
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also backed Trump’s decision.
“Kim Jong-un runs a global criminal operation from North Korea, peddling arms, peddling drugs, engaged in cyber-crime and of course threatening the stability of the region with his nuclear weapons,” Turnbull said in Sydney. – Reuters