Bush Calls For Tough Sanctions On North Korea
Posted October 11, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
U.S. President George W. Bush called for stiff sanctions on North Korea Wednesday while claiming that the United States has no intention of launching an attack following the North’s claim of a successful nuclear test.
In a televised speech from Washington, Bush promised that the U.S. was dedicated to diplomacy. Even so, he said America would work with its allies to punish Pyongyang for its actions and reserved “all options to defend our friends in the region.”
Bush wouldn’t accept criticism from Democrats that his administration dropped the ball on the nuclear crisis, contending that North Korea is to blame for going back on a 1994 deal made when Bill Clinton was in office.
“It is the intransigence of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, that led to the current situation,” he said.
Bush said he intended to increase the U.S.’s military cooperation with allies by boosting ballistic missile defence and curbing Pyongyang from importing weapons technology.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan appealed to the United States to hold direct talks with North Korea following threats of more nuclear tests. So far the U.S. has refused to do so.
“I have always argued that we should talk to parties whose behaviour we want to change, whose behaviour we want to influence, and from that point of view I believe that … (the) U.S. and North Korea should talk,” he said.
Annan also called on North Korean leaders to back off on their contention that UN sanctions would essentially represent a declaration of war.
“I would urge the North Korean authorities not to escalate the situation any further,” Annan told reporters. “We already have an extremely difficult situation.”
Meanwhile, Japan took punitive action against North Korea in response to its apparent nuclear test.
Officials have prohibited North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports and a total ban was put in place on imports from the nation. North Korean citizens are also barred from entering Japan, with a few exceptions.
The harsh measures followed an emergency security meeting in Japan and could be difficult for the impoverished country, which relies heavily on the Japanese market to import its produce like clams and mushrooms.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper also supported the call for sanctions on the secretive state.
“Something has to be done. There has to be some kind of response to North Korea’s thumbing its nose at the world community,” he said.
And while the cause of the current political tensions happened half a world away, it’s hitting home for Toronto’s Korean community.
“Most of us are used to threats like that because, you know, we’ve been living under threat for a very long time,” said sales representative Randy Kang, who moved to Canada from South Korea 17 years ago.
There are approximately 80,000 South Koreans who call Toronto home. There’s no way of knowing how many North Koreans live in the city as there’s no consulate or embassy in Canada.
