US envoy vows to use all tools to pressure N. Korea

Samantha Power, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, visits the truce village of Panmunjeom on the inter-Korean border, Sunday. / Joint press corps

By Jun Ji-hye

Washington will use every possible means to pressure North Korea to give up its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (U.N.) said Sunday.

During a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, Amb. Samantha Power said sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) were one tool to force the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions, but the United States was willing to use all the tools it has, including diplomatic pressure, to deal with the North.

Power arrived in South Korea, Saturday, for a four-day stay after visiting Japan amid the possibility of more provocative actions by Pyongyang to mark the anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers’ Party that falls today.

The U.N. ambassador’s visit is seen as unusual since the UNSC is currently working on a fresh resolution to penalize the North following its fifth nuclear test, Sept. 9.

“While the Security Council resolutions are one tool in our toolbox and a very important instrument of pressure, we are committed to using all the tools in our tool kit to address this serious threat, including diplomatic pressure that we are mobilizing around the world to convince other nations to isolate the regime,” Power said.

The ambassador added that other means include deterrence provided by the U.S. armed forces, saying that Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile program pose a threat to the entire international community, not just South Korea and the United States.

“We are determined to stand with you in addressing this threat,” she said. “Our resolve is unwavering, our commitment is ironclad. We are by your side.”

Earlier in the day, Power toured the truce village of Panmunjeom on the inter-Korean border, which officials here called a “symbolic event” that would send a strong message of Washington’s resolve to the North.

She also visited the Settlement Support Center for North Korean Refugees, also known as Hanawon, in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, during which she vowed to use every effort to make the North Korean regime change its ways and improve human rights conditions there, according to the Ministry of Unification.

The ministry said she took part in a prayer session with some of the defectors.

During the meeting with them, she said that the international community is well aware of the suffering of the people living in the North, and that the U.N. and the United States will do their best to improve their human rights.

Government insiders said her trip reflects Washington’s drive to make an issue of the North’s deplorable human rights abuses that could lead to the matter being linked to additional sanctions as talks are currently underway for a new UNSC resolution.

On her arrival, Saturday, the ambassador also noted that she wanted to directly hear the plight of those that have fled the North, and based on what she learned go back to New York to negotiate fresh sanctions with other countries.

At the time, she added that the world will “not be intimidated” by any action taken by the Kim Jong-un regime.

“Now we are looking to see what more can be done because, of course, another test was carried out at the beginning of September,” she said. “This must stop. We are not intimidated by the actions of the government of North Korea.”

She also said, “A threat just across the border here that is felt in such deep ways by the people in this country is also a threat felt by the people in the U.S. There is no sense that this is a distant threat and this is someone else’s problem. We are in this together.”

Power visited Japan before coming to South Korea. Her tour of the two key Asian countries is apparently aimed at consolidating the alliance and helping draft punitive measures against Pyongyang, officials noted.

“We want to work in lock steps with our Korean friends and our Japanese friends and all who stand against these kinds of violations of international laws and threats to the international security,” she said.