U.S., China should prepare fatal measures against N. Korean threats

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Wednesday that North Korea will face "more than (economic) sanctions" with regards to Pyongyang`s threats to launch long-range missiles and conduct the fourth nuclear test. Kerry also revealed that he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed measures to put pressure on the North other than economic sanctions. His remarks suggest that Washington takes Pyongyang`s threats of provocations seriously and will respond strongly. In 1994, the U.S. drew up a plan to conduct a surgical strike on the North`s nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, although Washington did not actually carry it out.

The diplomatic community is raising the possibility that the other measures Kerry mentioned will include financial sanctions targeting Pyongyang`s power elite. Under the scenario, Washington would add a "secondary boycott" of sanctioning financial institutions in third countries dealing with the North to cut off the financial channel to the North Korean leadership. The United Nations Security Council discussed secondary boycott after the North launched a long-range missile in December 2012 but did not include it in North Korea sanctions due to objections by China and Russia. As was confirmed in the case of Washington`s freeze on Pyongyang`s accounts at Banco Delta Asia, financial sanctions are fatal to the North Korean regime.

China`s state-run media, the mouthpiece for the Chinese government and the Communist Party of China, also reported that Beijing will likely support U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang and that the North`s behavior troubles China the most. China`s shift to no longer protecting the North would provide a momentum to deterring Pyongyang`s provocations. The South Korean government should use its diplomatic capability to induce U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will have a summit on September 25, to go beyond sharing the view of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and come up with concrete measures to respond to Pyongyang`s provocation threats.

South Korea plans to hold the annual Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue meeting with the U.S. in Seoul on September 23 and 24 to discuss ways to deter the North`s nuclear and missile threats and joint measures to respond to the provocations. It is necessary for Seoul to make diplomatic efforts to prevent Pyongyang`s provocations and, at the same time, prepare against the North`s causing an "abnormal situation" on the basis of the Seoul-Washington alliance.

Saturday marks the 10th anniversary of the announcement of the September 19, 2005 joint statement. North Korea broke the 2005 promise to abandon all nuclear weapons and development programs and conducted three nuclear tests. The U.S. and China declare the North`s long-range missile and fourth nuclear test as a "red line" and prepare an action plan to punish the North if Pyongyang refuses to comply. South Korean President Park Geun-hye also needs to declare in her speech to the U.N. General Assembly on September 28 that Seoul will stand at the forefront in putting sanctions on North Korea, including resuming anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts in the event of the North`s provocation.