The United States and China are considering imposing additional sanctions on North Korea, as the country is "not even close" to taking steps to limit its nuclear program, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday as he condemned the North for a litany of other violations.
North Korea has continued to break promises, deny its own people fundamental freedoms and human rights, make threats and "show flagrant disregard for international law" by continuing to pursue its nuclear weapon program, Kerry said during a joint news conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se in the South Korean capital, reported Reuters.
Kerry said that Washington has offered Pyongyang multiple chances to improve relations with the West in exchange for ending its nuclear program and vowed to expose the North's "atrocities on its own people" and "ramp up international pressure for North Korea to change its behavior."
"The United States continues to offer Pyongyang an improved bilateral relationship if, and only if, and when it demonstrates a genuine willingness to fulfill its denuclearization obligations and commitments, and when it shows a willingness to address other important concerns shared by the international community," Kerry said, according to the Washington Post.
"To date, to this moment, particularly with recent provocations, it is clear the DPRK is not even close to meeting that standard," he added. Instead, Kerry continued, "it continues to pursue nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles," acting with "a kind of reckless abandon."
North Korea is already heavily sanctioned by the U.S. and United Nations for its missile and nuclear tests, with the most recent being imposed by President Obama in January, and Kerry said that the U.S. and China are discussing further penalties.
"I think never has the international community been as united as we are now, that, number one North Korea needs to denuclearise," Kerry said, adding that the impending nuclear accord with Iran could serve as an example and push North Korea towards restarting negotiations on its own program.
"With respect to the methodology for boosting sanctions and other things, we [the United States and China] are discussing all of that now. China has obviously an extraordinary leverage," he said, reported the Guardian. "We will have security and economic dialogue with the Chinese in Washington in June and that will be the moment where we will table some of these specific steps."
In a 2005 deal with the U.S., Russia, South Korea and China, the North agreed to end its nuclear program in return for security, economic and energy benefits, but Pyonyang ended up walking away from the deal.
