N. Korea’s nuclear threat ‘high priority’ for new US govt
SEOUL: United States President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser says North Korea’s nuclear programme will be a high priority under the new administration, a South Korean official who held talks with him said yesterday.
Michael Flynn, one of Trump’s closest advisers, said he would strengthen US-South Korea alliance, calling the relationship “vital”, deputy presidential national security adviser Cho Tae-yong was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.
Cho led a South Korean delegation to the US to meet the president-elect’s key advisers to discuss the two countries’ response to the North’s nuclear weapons programme in defiance of international sanctions.
Flynn is a retired army lieutenantgeneral and a military intelligence veteran of three decades who had championed Trump’s promises to take a more aggressive approach to terrorism. His appointment as national security adviser this week did not require Senate confirmation.
The North conducted its fourth and fifth nuclear tests this year under Kim Jong-un, who has vowed to build a nuclear arsenal and ballistic missiles to deliver them.
The United Nations Security Council has held discussions to adopt a toughened new sanctions resolution following the North’s Sept 9 nuclear blast.
US President Barack Obama has been criticised by Congressional Republicans that his policy of “strategic patience” was a failure and that he must make full use of sanctions authorities given to him by Congress.
Trump pledged his commitment to defend the South under an existing security alliance during a phone call with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, Yonhap said.
Trump had suggested, during the election campaign, he would withdraw US soldiers stationed in South Korea unless Seoul paid a greater share of the cost of the deployment. Reuters