GENEVA: The US wants to exhaust every diplomatic option on North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, and to see loopholes in the North Korean sanctions regime closed, US Disarmament Ambassador Robert Wood said on Friday.
“Sanctions have not had a real opportunity to bite as hard as we would like them to bite, and that comes from the fact that they have not been fully implemented,” Wood told a news conference in Geneva.
North Korea fired a second missile over Japan far out into the Pacific Ocean on Friday, South Korean and Japanese officials said, deepening tension after Pyongyang’s recent test of its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb.
Washington has in the past accused China, North Korea’s main trading partner, of failing to apply enough economic pressure to its neighbor. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday that if China failed to implement the latest UN sanctions on North Korea, he would seek new financial sanctions against Beijing.
Wood, formally US ambassador to the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament, said North Korea had exploited “gaping holes” in the sanctions regime to secretly acquire equipment for its ballistic missile and nuclear weapon programs: “We want to close those loopholes.”
Asked if war or a US military strike was possible, Wood said: “We are not taking any options off the table but... we are pursuing the diplomatic track right now.
“That’s where we are. We want to exhaust all diplomatic options.”
The US wanted to see North Korea further isolated, with more countries breaking off or downgrading relations and cutting off trade.
He said China had the same interest as the US in seeking the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, and had helped to apply pressure on North Korea by supporting two UN Security Council resolutions.
But he said there was much more that China could do, and suggested that Beijing’s “unique leverage” was only just coming into play.
“We’re at a real inflection point with regard to China,” Wood said.
In a wide-ranging briefing on US disarmament interests, Wood also reiterated President Donald Trump’s view that Iran was not fulfilling the spirit of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 deal that allowed Iran sanctions relief in return for curbing its nuclear program.
“If you look at what Iran is doing with regard to ballistic missile activity... when you look at the support it is giving to the Assad regime in Syria, to Hezbollah, to Hamas, their funding and support for the Houthi rebels in Yemen... Iran is not in any way, we think, fulfilling the aspirations of the JCPOA.”
He cited the preface of the JCPOA, which says the signatories anticipate that the agreement will “positively contribute to regional and international peace and security.”
Trump must decide next month whether Iran is complying with the deal.
US wants to see North Korea sanctions bite, no options ruled out
US wants to see North Korea sanctions bite, no options ruled out
Zelensky says Ukrainian air force needs to improve as Russian drone barrages take a toll
- Zelensky said Friday he had discussed with his defense minister and the air force commander what new air defense measures Ukraine needs to counter the Russian barrages
- Russia fired 328 drones and seven missiles at Ukraine overnight and in the early morning
KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday described the performance of the air force in parts of the country as “unsatisfactory,” and said that steps are being taken to improve the response to large-scale Russian drone barrages of civilian areas.
The repeated Russian aerial assaults have in recent months focused on Ukraine’s power grid, causing blackouts and disrupting the heating and water supply for families during a bitterly cold winter.
With the war about to enter its fifth year later this month following Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor, there is no sign of a breakthrough in US-led peace efforts following the latest talks this week.
Further US-brokered meetings between Russian and Ukrainian delegations are planned “in the near future, likely in the United States,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky said Friday he had discussed with his defense minister and the air force commander what new air defense measures Ukraine needs to counter the Russian barrages. He didn’t elaborate on what would be done.
Russia fired 328 drones and seven missiles at Ukraine overnight and in the early morning, the air force said, claiming that air defenses shot down 297 drones.
One person was killed and two others were injured in an overnight Russian attack using drones and powerful glide bombs on the central Dnipropetrovsk region, according to the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Hanzha.
A Russian aerial attack on the southern Zaporizhzhia region during early daylight hours injured eight people and damaged 18 apartment blocks, according to regional military administration head Ivan Fedorov.
A dog shelter in the regional capital was also struck, killing 13 dogs, Zaporizhzhia City Council Secretary Rehina Kharchenko said.
Some dogs were rushed to a veterinary clinic, but they could not be saved, she said. Seven other animals were injured and are receiving treatment.
Amid icy conditions in Kyiv, more than 1,200 residential buildings in multiple districts of the capital have had no heating for days due to the Russian bombardment of the power grid, according to Zelensky.
The UK defense ministry said Friday that Ukraine’s electricity network “is experiencing its most acute crisis of the winter.”
Mykola Tromza, an 81-year-old pensioner in Kyiv, said he has had his power restored, but recently went without heating and water at home for a week.
“I touched my nose and by God, it was like an icicle,” Tromza said. He said he ran up and down to keep warm.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 38 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 26 over the Bryansk region.
Bryansk Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said the attack briefly cut power to several villages in the region.
Another Ukrainian nighttime strike damaged power facilities in the Russian city of Belgorod, disrupting electricity distribution, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Local reports said that Ukrainian missiles hit a power plant and an electrical substation, cutting power to parts of the city.
Fierce fighting has also continued on the front line despite the frigid temperatures.
Ukraine’s Commander in Chief, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said the front line now measures about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) in length along eastern and southern parts of Ukraine.
The increasing technological improvements to drones on both sides mean that the so-called “kill zone” where troops are in greatest danger is now up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) deep, he told reporters on Thursday in comments embargoed until Friday.
