U.S. on North Korea satellite launch: Commitment to Pacific allies ironclad

An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday condemned North Korea’s launch of a satellite in violation of the UN restrictions on ballistic missile technology that are in place against it.

The North Korean satellite launch with ballistic missile technology, a month after it tested a nuclear device, pushed the Asia-Pacific region into volatility and set in a motion a series of diplomatic initiatives.

The U.S Secretary of State, John Kerry, spoke to South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday and “reaffirmed the U.S. ironclad commitment to the security and defence of Japan, the Republic of Korea, and our other allies,” a State Department spokesperson said.

The U.S and South Korea also decided to start talks on the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile defence system in South Korea, prompting immediate protests from China. The U.S has been nudging China to bring more pressure on North Korea and Mr. Kerry had travelled to China in the last week of January. President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping spoke over phone on Friday about the situation in the Korean peninsula.

Permanent representatives of the U.S, Japan and South Korea to the UN - Samantha Power, Motohide Yoshikawa and Oh Joon respectively, said in a joint briefing in New York after the Security Council meeting that there was unity among the members that “in response to the DPRK, business as usual will no longer apply.”

“President Obama spoke with President Xi on Friday and in that call they agreed on the importance of a strong and united international response to North Korea’s illegal actions, including through an impactful UN Security Council resolution,” Ms. Power said. “China is a critical player. Our respect for China’s role and the necessity of China playing a constructive role here, I think is reflected in all of the high-level engagements…So we are hopeful that China, like all Council Members, will see the grave threat to regional international peace and security – see the importance of adopting tough unprecedented measures,” she said.

While China has condemned the North Korean nuclear test and satellite launch, it is also measured in its response. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had on January 27 said after meeting Mr. Kerry: “We also agree that the Security Council need to take further action and pass a new resolution. In the meantime, we must point out that the new resolution should not provoke new tension in the situation…destabilise the Korean Peninsula. Rather, the goal is to take the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula back to the right track of negotiation.”

Ms. Power said on Sunday: “So, none of us here are for sanctions for sanctions sake. We’re for sanctions to make a difference and to affect the calculus of a regime that has brazenly and recklessly acted in defiance of international norms and in a continual threat to regional and international peace and security.”