Park vows ‘new, strong’ sanctions against North

I think that North Korea is not interested in dialogue on denuclearisation anymore. Park Geun-hye

SEOUL: South Korean President Park Geunhye vowed to focus on crafting “new and strong” international sanctions against Pyongyang, saying Seoul will do all it takes to end North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s “maniacal” obsession with nuclear arms.

During a meeting with her senior secretaries, Park pointedly noted that past efforts to resolve the decades-old nuclear standoff with the communist state through dialogue and negotiations had failed to stop the growth of its nuclear programme.

“I think that North Korea will not be interested in dialogue on denuclearisation anymore, and that its nuclear and missile provocations will further escalate,” Park said during the meeting at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

“Thus, the government will do its utmost to secure new, strong international sanctions at the UN Security Council that could actually coerce the North into renouncing its nuclear programme, while it would separately take unilateral steps to pressure the North in tandem with various other countries,” she added.

Despite international excoriations, Pyongyang has been racketing up cross-border tensions through its continued sabre-rattling, including its ground test of a new rocket engine, which appears to be designed for an intercontinental ballistic missile.

In an apparent swipe at those calling for dialogue with the provocative state, the commander-in-chief stressed that the general direction of Pyongyang’s nuclear development underscores the inefficacy of dialogue.

“(In the past) money was given to the North to get it to engage in dialogue, but it was funnelled into its nuclear programme,” she stressed.

“When negotiations were underway despite the absence of Pyongyang’s will, the North exploited the time to advance its nuclear capabilities behind the scenes,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry said its minister Yun Byung-se is likely to call into question North Korea’s qualifications as a member of the UN in his upcoming speech in New York.

In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Yun urged all countries to “ask themselves whether North Korea is really qualified to be a member of the UN”.