Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has stressed the need for pressure and not dialogue in responding to North Korea’s continued nuclear and missile provocations.
 
In a speech at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, Abe said that whether the North’s provocations can be stopped is up to the international community’s unity, adding that there is not much time left.
 
Abe stressed the need to thoroughly implement UN Security Council sanctions, saying that repeated attempts to address the North’s nuclear issue through dialogue all failed.
 
He said that for the North, dialogue is the best means to deceive other countries and to buy time.
 
Abe said prior failed attempts demonstrate that pressure is what is needed to tackle the North’s nuclear issue. He stressed that all materials, funds, workforce and technology that Pyongyang could use to develop nuclear weapons and missiles must be fully blocked from making their way into the North.
 
The prime minister said that the North’s nuclear test and the ballistic missiles that passed through Japan’s airspace are serious and real threats. He then urged Pyongyang to fully scrap its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner. 

[Photo : ]