US Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Nikki Haley accused North Korea yesterday of intimidating the entire international community with its nuclear programme, cyber attacks and military ability. The Indian-American said any country that doesn’t implement UN sanctions is supporting Pyongyang’s actions.
“No one is immune to the threat of North Korea,” she told reporters before emergency closed-door consultations by the UN Security Council on the North’s weekend ballistic missile launch, which experts said demonstrated a significant technological jump with the rocket flying higher and for a longer period of time.
“We’re not going to continue to just say go ahead and test as often as you want,” Haley said, flanked by the South Korean and Japanese ambassadors. “This is a true threat to every country in the world… We’re going to make sure we put the pressure on them economically, diplomatically, politically and internationally.”
Haley said the US and China have been working on “a unified plan” on how to approach North Korea that would include stronger implementation of existing sanctions and tougher new sanctions. She indicated that Washington and Beijing had agreed they would take action if a new test looked to be of a long range device and leaning toward an intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach the United States.
The latest launch appeared to fulfil both criteria, Haley said, “So I believe that China will stay true to that and that we’ll come together on how we’re going to do that.”
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The UN Security Council, which has imposed six rounds of sanctions on the North, discussed possible further action in yesterday’s meeting. Haley previously indicated that new sanctions could target oil, a critical import for North Korea mainly from China, and she said the US also wants sanctions on organisations and businesses in third countries that are helping Pyongyang.