North Korea is “a threat to all humanity” that requires a major escalation of international sanctions and perhaps military action to bring the regime to heel, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday
“What is necessary is action,” Abe said at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. “Whether or not we can put an end to the provocations by North Korea is dependent on the solidarity of the international community. There is not much time left.”
North Korea has launched two missiles over Japan in recent weeks, in addition to test-firing an intercontinental ballistic missile and detonating a massive nuclear bomb. Abe endorsed President Trump’s vow to carry out a military attack if necessary while downplaying the efficacy of “dialogue” with the regime. Instead, he called for a major escalation of international sanctions.
“I must make an appeal to you,” he said. “North Korea has already demonstrated its disregard of the resolution by launching a missile. The resolution is nothing more than the beginning. We must prevent goods, funds, people, and technology necessary for nuclear and missile development from heading to North Korea.”
Those remarks were directed apparently at Russia and China, which have provided North Korea with economic lifelines for decades despite officially opposing the nuclear weapons program. China, in particular, has sheltered North Korea from the full blast of United Nations sanctions and forced the United States to water down a sanctions proposal that would have mandated a complete embargo of oil to the country.
Abe also seemed to call for an escalation toward military action in North Korea.
Abe said the time for talking with North Korea is over because the Hermit Kingdom’s leaders do not operate in good faith.
“What we had to learn is that during the time this dialogue continued, North Korea had no intention whatsoever of abandoning its nuclear or missile development,” he said. “For North Korea, dialogue was instead the best means of deceiving us and buying time.”
He added, “The gravity of this threat is unprecedented.”
Abe said North Korea’s negotiation style does not give credibility to their efforts to find peace with the West. Instead, North Korea is mocking attempts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, which is the Trump administration’s stated goal in the region.
“North Korea is attempting to dismiss with a smirk the efforts toward disarmament we have assiduously undertaken over the years.”
Abe echoed U.S. calls for Russia and China to implement existing U.N. sanctions and implied that the regime’s nuclear program could prove damaging to them as well.
“We must ensure the strict and full implementation of a series of Security Council resolutions by all U.N. member nations,” he said. “By becoming a threat to all humanity, there is absolutely no future that North Korea can open up for itself. In order to change North Korea’s policies, we must strengthen our unity.”
