More military ‘provocation’ by N Korea could lead to tougher action in line with UN Security Council resolutions, envoy says
China and South Korea have agreed to impose “strong” new sanctions on North Korea if it carries out further nuclear or long-range missile tests, a senior official in Seoul said on Monday. The commitment comes as pressure on Pyongyang mounts after last week’s summit between US President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping. Monday’s meeting in Seoul between China’s Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs Wu Dawei and his South Korean counterpart Kim Hong-kyun also came as a US naval strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson headed to the region in a show of force. “In the midst of the growing possibility of North Korean provocations, The latest visit by Wu Dawei to Korea is very timely in terms of sending a strong warning to North Korea,” Yonhap news agency quoted Kim as saying. Wu’s trip was the first to South Korea by a senior Chinese official since a diplomatic row erupted between Beijing and Seoul over South Korea’s planned deployment of the US’ Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system. Analysts said Beijing appeared to be taking a more active role in warning North Korea not to test Beijing’s bottom line with more strategic military tests. North Korea has several major anniversaries this month, including the 105th anniversary on Saturday of its founding leader’s birth, and often marks the occasions with major tests of military hardware. The possibility of US military action against North Korea in response to such tests gained traction after last week’s strikes against Syria. But, Kim said, there was no mention of any military option in his talks with Wu. The two also did not discuss any possible strike against the North by the United States, he said.
