The US has said the time for talks over North Korea was "over," spurning a UN response to Pyongyang's latest Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launch in favour of bomber flights and missile defence system tests.
Nikki Haley, the US envoy to the United Nations, said there was "no point" in holding a fruitless emergency Security Council session, warning that a weak additional council resolution would be "of no value" in light of the North's repeated violations.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un boasted of his country's ability to strike any target in the US after an intercontinental ballistic missile test on Friday that weapons experts said could even bring New York into range – in a major challenge to Trump.
US strategic bombers on Saturday flew over the Korean peninsula in a direct response to the launch, and on Sunday, American forces successfully tested a missile interception system the US hopes will be installed on the Korean peninsula.
Under Kim's leadership, North Korea has accelerated its drive towards a credible nuclear strike capability, in defiance of international condemnation and multiple sets of UN sanctions. The US Senate passed new bipartisan sanctions on Pyongyang on Friday.
Haley urged China, Japan and South Korea to tighten the screws on Pyongyang.
An additional Security Council resolution that does not significantly increase the international pressure on North Korea is of no value. It sends the message to the North Korean dictator that the international community is unwilling to seriously challenge him. China must decide whether it is finally willing to take this vital step. The time for talk is over.Nikki Haley
Trump ‘Disappointed in China’
Earlier, US President Donald Trump warned that he would not allow China – the impoverished North's sole major ally and economic lifeline – to "do nothing" about Pyongyang.
In two tweets, Trump linked trade strains with the Asian giant – marked by a trade deficit of 309 billion dollars last year – to policy on North Korea, after Seoul indicated it could speed up the deployment of a US missile defence system that has infuriated China.
Trump has repeatedly urged China to rein in its neighbour, but Beijing insists dialogue is the only practical way forward.
Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of US treaty ally Japan, also urged Beijing to act – along with Moscow – after telephone talks with Trump on Monday.
The North had "trampled all over" efforts to seek a peaceful solution to the situation and "unilaterally escalated" tensions, said Abe.
The international community including China and Russia must take it seriously and step up pressure.Shinzo Abe
US Making Senseless Remarks: North Korea
Pyongyang lauded the developers of the missile during the weekend, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
The US-led campaign only provided "further justification" for the North's resolve to maintain its weapons programs, Pyongyang's foreign ministry said in a statement carried by KCNA.
The ICBM test “is meant to send a stern warning to the US making senseless remarks, being lost to reason in the frantic sanctions and pressure campaign against the DPRK,” it said, using an acronym for the North’s official name.
Pacific Air Forces commander General Terrence O'Shaughnessy called Pyongyang "the most urgent threat to regional stability."
"If called upon, we are ready to respond with rapid, lethal and overwhelming force at a time and place of our choosing," he said.
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