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US Ambassador to UN: All Options on the Table to Deal with N. Korea

News2017-03-09

Anchor: As North Korea continues to threaten neighboring countries with its ballistic missiles, Washington says it is now coming up with a new way to deal with the regime. Following a UN Security Council discussion on the latest missile firings in the North, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said all options are now open to deal with Kim Jong-un, whom she called irrational.
Our Kim Bum-soo has more.

Report: 

[Sound bite: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley]
(Can you tell us some of the options that the U.S. is now considering?)
"I think all of the options are on the table now." 
 
The United States says it is now open to all options to deal with North Korea.
 
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley on Wednesday revealed the Trump administration's current standing after the UN Security Council discussed North Korea's latest missile launch earlier this week.
 
[Sound bite: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley]
"I appreciate all of my counterparts wanting to talk about talks and negotiations. We are not dealing with a rational person. So what I can tell you is the stance of the United States is that we are reevaluating how we are going to handle North Korea going forward, and we are making those decisions now, and we will act accordingly."
 
In the joint news conference with UN ambassadors from Seoul and Tokyo, Haley also defended the ongoing THAAD deployment and joint military drills on the Korean Peninsula.
 
[Sound bite: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley]
"Tell me why we wouldn't do the THAAD in light of 24 ballistic missiles, in light of two nuclear tests. Knowing that we're going to protect our allies, we are not going to leave South Korea standing there with the threat of North Korea facing them and not help." 
 
With Haley noting that the U.S. has to see some positive action by North Korea before taking the regime seriously, the South Korean Ambassador Cho Tae-yul stressed the international community meantime will continue to pressure Pyongyang.
 
[Sound bite: S. Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Cho Tae-yul]
"Perhaps the leadership in Pyongyang might have believed that these continued provocations may help enhance his bargaining leverage but it was simply wrong. It will further deepen North Korea's isolation and accelerate its path toward self-destruction. I am quite confident that the North Korean leader will painfully realize how great and serious miscalculation he has made and he will soon pay the price for what he did in defiance of the concerted warnings by the international community." 

Last year, North Korea test fired a total of 24 ballistic missiles while carrying out two underground nuclear tests. The Pyongyang regime on Monday launched four more missiles towards the East Sea, dropping three of them in Japanese waters.  
 
Before Wednesday's session, UNSC members had already condemned North Korea’s latest missile launch in another press statement.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.

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