The Guardian:
The United Nations security council has strongly condemned North Korea’s latest launch of three ballistic missiles, and threatened “further significant measures” if the Pyongyang regime continued its missile and nuclear weapons development work.
Diplomats at the UN said that this latest rebuke of North Korea was agreed unusually quickly, reflecting China’s anger at the missile launch on Monday as President Xi Jinping was hosting the G20 summit in Hangzhou.
Despite the bluntly worded statement, describing North Korea’s “flagrant disregard” of its demands, there are no immediate plans to begin discussions on new sanctions. The focus will instead be on fuller implementation of the last round of sanctions imposed in March. The US and its regional allies, South Korea and Japan – those most immediately threatened by Pyongyang’s military capabilities – are particularly keen to see China enforcing sanctions more robustly.
We are going to work diligently together with the most recent UN sanctions that are already placing North Korea under the most intense sanctions regime ever,” Barack Obama said in Laos after a meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Park Geun-hye.
“We’re going to work together to make sure that we’re closing loopholes and making them even more effective. President Park and I agreed that the entire international community needs to implement these sanctions fully and hold North Korea accountable.”
“Taking into consideration the importance of China’s role in effective implementation of sanctions and the resolution process of the North Korean nuclear issue, our two countries have agreed to continue to communicate with China through various channels,” Park said.
Analysts pointed to North Korea’s defiant launch as a reflection of both US and China’s diminished leverage over the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.
