US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday that the United States is now working on a new round of sanctions against North Korea.
It came at a conference in the South Korean capital Seoul hosted by the US Center for Strategic and International Studies and the South Korean media group YongAng, where he said, “We have a new set of sanctions on the way as we speak now,” but Sullivan did not mention any details about these sanctions, noting that Washington is committed to using pressure and diplomacy to encourage North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal.
For its part, Pyongyang is moving forward with the development of “banned missiles” and points to the possibility of a new nuclear test, while the administration of President Joe Biden calls its policy towards North Korea the “North Star” and is summarized in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, where the United States are relentlessly pursuing this goal, being flexible in working with partners to achieve it.
Sullivan pointed to increased cooperation between the United States of America, South Korea and Japan as the pace of joint military exercises increased at a time when the United States was working on a “more visible” regional presence of strategic assets, whereby he means major armaments such as aircraft carriers and long range bombers.
On the other hand, North Korea has said that denuclearization is not being considered, accusing the United States and its allies of pursuing “hostile” policies, including sanctions, that left it no choice but to expand its military.
Sullivan added that Washington “has no malicious intent” towards North Korea and is open to talks “without preconditions” while “Pyongyang rejects such sincere communication,” according to the national security adviser.
The latest round of US sanctions against North Korea targeted two companies registered in Singapore and a company registered in the Marshall Islands that Washington says support Pyongyang’s weapons programs and its military.
But decades of U.S.-led sanctions have not stopped North Korea’s increasingly advanced missile and nuclear programs, and China and Russia have blocked recent attempts to impose new UN sanctions, saying they should instead be eased to start negotiations and avoid human suffering.
Sullivan said the administration has no illusions about the problems, but the United States remains committed to holding North Korea accountable.
The U.S. and South Korea are conducting joint exercises in response to North Korean ballistic missile launches, since the last time the exercises were conducted on November 18 with the participation of F-35A fighters, where Yonhap wrote that the fighters were training, as part of these exercises, attacks on North Korean missile targets using GBU-12 laser-guided bombs.
At the same time, South Korean President Yoon Sok Yul directed the Security Council to step up the precautions agreed with the US on North Korea and impose sanctions against Pyongyang with Washington and the international community.
Pyongyang, in turn, accused Washington and Seoul of turning the Korean Peninsula into a “hot spot” because of their exercises, as the DPRK Foreign Ministry warned the US that they should be prepared to “pay a similar price in the event of an attempt to use force against North Korea” .