Moon calls for new sanctions to pressure North Korea

SEOUL – South Korea’s President, Moon Jae-in, at an emergency meeting of his National Security Council (NSC) has strongly denounced North Korea’s latest mission test as a provocation that is "a clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and also a grave challenge to world peace and security.” 

“Pyongyang’s continuous provocations with intercontinental ballistic missile launches and nuclear weapons tests not only increase tension across the Korean Peninsula, but also pose a great threat to world peace,” he said, calling the test an “absurd strategic mistake that will lead to the international community further isolating the regime.” 
Moon stressed that his Government will join forces with the international community to come up with measures to retaliate against the North so that it cannot but give up its nuclear weapons and missiles. 
He also ordered his Government to pursue all diplomatic means to make the North Korean regime abandon its nuclear weapons and missile programmes in a “complete, verifiable and irreversible manner”, and urged his military to “thoroughly prepare for and implement ways to actively respond to the North’s further reckless threats, based on the sound Korea-U.S. combined defence readiness.” 
Moon also phoned Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss measures to response to North Korea’s sixth nuclear weapons test. 
The two leaders strongly condemned Pyongyang, describing the test as ’a serious challenge that ignores continued warnings from both Seoul and Tokyo, and the international community, and violates resolutions of the U.N. Security Council.” 
President Moon said:  “In co-operation with the international community, we need stronger, more substantive measures against the North, to a level that Pyongyang can fully realise the pressure. We need to bolster that pressure until Pyongyang comes to the table for talks for their own sake.” 
Both leaders agreed that, “with close cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo, and with Washington, we need to apply the highest level of pressure and sanctions”, South Korea’s Government newsagency reported, adding that Moon and Abe had agreed to work together to encourage the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution calling for stronger sanctions.  www.korea.net (ATI).