President warns NK against nuclear test

  25 September 2015    Read: 659
President warns NK against nuclear test
President Park Geun-hye has warned against North Korea`s possible fourth nuclear test, adding to speculation she will propose tougher U.N. sanctions if Pyongyang carries out the test next month.
President expected to address Pyongyang`s nukes at UN visit

"Should the North go ahead with provocative actions that violate the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, there will certainly be a price to be paid," Park said in written answers to Bloomberg News before embarking on her trip to New York, Friday.

The President will attend the 70th U.N. General Assembly there through Sept. 28 before returning home on Sept. 30.

"The Korean government is making every diplomatic effort to prevent the North from further belligerence, by working closely together with the international community including the United States," she said.

Park is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech to the 193 U.N. member states on Sept. 28 during the annual General Assembly session.

She is expected to ask the UNSC to include general goods, such as sugar, on the list of items that are prohibited for export to North Korea if it is engaged in military provocation next month.

The UNSC now bans the trade of arms, luxury goods and the provision of financial services or the transfer of financial assets with Pyongyang.

Since Sept. 14, North Korea repeatedly has hinted at launching a long-range rocket and also conducting its fourth nuclear test to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of its Workers` Party on Oct. 10.

The military regime carried out three nuclear tests, in 2006, 2009 and 2013. It also has claimed its rocket launch is for peaceful space development.

But the U.S.-led allies, including South Korea, have suspected such a launch would merely be a cover for a ballistic missile test banned by the UNSC resolutions, along with the nuclear program.

A senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who asked not to be named, said Thursday that North Korea`s possible provocations will result in "enhanced sanctions in every category."

South Korea has been walking a fine line between preventing the North from defying the U.N. ban and bolstering inter-Korean dialogue, in line with their peace agreement on Aug. 25.

During her visit to New York, it is anticipated Park will also address Seoul`s efforts for peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula and ask the international community to aid Pyongyang if it abandons its nuclear program.

In a separate keynote speech to the U.N. Sustainable Development Summit on Sept. 26, the President is likely to propose the Saemaul Undong movement to effectively implement new sustainable development goals.

The movement was South Korea`s nationwide campaign in the 1970s aimed at ending poverty and boosting the country into an industrialized nation. It now has been adopted by several developing countries.

The U.N. General Assembly this year will draw some 160 world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The U.S., China, Japan and Russia are members of the six-party talks aimed at denuclearization of North Korea. The remaining members are the two Koreas.

The U.N. meeting also will have top diplomats from their respective countries.

They include Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.

The three will hold talks on Sept. 29 on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. They will discuss North Korea`s military threats and other security issues on the peninsula, according to the foreign ministry.

It said Yun and Kishida will also hold bilateral talks on Sept. 30.

They are likely to negotiate a possible agenda to be included in the planned three-way summit among Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo. The summit is expected to take place in Seoul between October and November.

Yun and Kishida could discuss other issues, including the Seoul-Tokyo summit and Japan`s sex slavery involving Korean women during World War II.

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