SEOUL, March 25 (Reuters) – North Korea is likely to conduct “more” after successfully testing its largest ever intercontinental ballistic missile, a senior U.S. official said on Friday. “Test shot. At the same time, the United States called on the international community to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea at the United Nations Security Council.
“We think this is part of North Korea’s consistent conduct of tests and provocations,” Jack Sullivan, the presidential national security adviser who accompanied Biden on his trip, told reporters on Air Force One. There will be more test firings.”
The missile, which North Korea fired on Thursday, appeared to be higher and longer than any other ICBM it had previously tested — including one designed to strike anywhere on the U.S. mainland, the report said.
The United States said on Friday it would seek tougher sanctions from the United Nations Security Council on North Korea after North Korea tested its largest intercontinental ballistic missile, the Associated Press reported in Seoul on March 26. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to strengthen North Korea’s “nuclear war deterrence” while preparing for a “prolonged contest” with the United States.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Friday that the United States will introduce a resolution to the Security Council to “update and strengthen” sanctions on North Korea. The Security Council has imposed sanctions on North Korea since its first nuclear test in 2006, and sanctions on North Korea have been tougher over the years.
Without specifying what new measures might be implemented, Thomas-Greenfield urged the Security Council to unanimously condemn Pyongyang’s “shockingly unprovoked escalation” of its weapons program and urged North Korea to return to negotiations.
“Clearly, staying silent and hoping North Korea will show restraint is a losing strategy,” she said.
But it is unclear whether the bill calling for further tightening of sanctions will go well, the report said.
Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Anna Yevstineva, said on Friday that further sanctions would only hurt the North Korean people. Zhang Jun, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, urged the UN Security Council to “pay attention to addressing the legitimate concerns of the DPRK.” Both of them said the United States had not done enough to respond to North Korea’s 2018 moratorium on long-range missile and nuclear tests.
“The U.S. should show sincerity, take practical actions, and make greater efforts to stabilize the situation, build mutual trust, and restart dialogue,” Zhang Jun said. “Where the situation goes next depends largely on what the U.S. does. To really take concrete actions to solve the problem, we should continue to use the peninsula issue as a geostrategic bargaining chip.”
North Korea did not speak at the Security Council meeting.
In addition, according to a report on the website of Russia Today TV on March 25, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations, Anna Yevstineva, said on the 25th that the current situation on the Korean peninsula is the result of repeated sanctions against North Korea. She pointed out that the Security Council has so far only blindly imposed sanctions on North Korea, ignoring positive signals from Pyongyang.
TASS reported Yevstineva’s remarks: “The development of the current situation is largely the result of the shortsightedness and unwillingness of some of my colleagues here to get out of the sanctions framework.”
Yevstineva stressed that the various restrictions on North Korea do not help ensure regional security.
According to reports, after North Korea launched a ballistic missile on the 24th, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement expressing unease over the situation on the Korean peninsula.
(Original title: U.S. threatens to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea, China urges attention to addressing North Korea’s legitimate concerns)
