North Korea: US urges all nations to cut ties
with Pyongyang
The US has urged "all nations" to cut diplomatic
and trade ties with North Korea after the country's
latest ballistic missile test.
Speaking at the UN Security Council, US envoy Nikki
Haley said President Trump had asked his Chinese
counterpart to cut off oil supplies to Pyongyang.
She said the US did not seek conflict but that North
Korea's regime would be "utterly destroyed" if war
broke out.
The warning came after Pyongyang tested its first
missile in two months.
North Korea said the missile fired on Wednesday,
which it said reached an altitude of about 4,475km
(2,780 miles) - more than 10 times the height of
the International Space Station - held a warhead
capable of re-entering the earth's atmosphere.
The claim was not proven and experts have cast
doubt on the country's ability to master such
technology.
However North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un called
the launch "impeccable" and a "breakthrough".
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The test - one of several this year - has been
condemned by the international community and the
UN Security Council called an emergency meeting.
Ms Haley warned that "continued acts of
aggression" were only serving to further destabilise
the region.
Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said
Pyongyang should stop its missile and nuclear
tests but also called on Washington to cancel
military exercises with South Korea planned for
December as it would "inflame an already explosive
situation".
China also suggested the North should stop the
tests in return for a halt to US military exercises - a
proposal Washington rejected in the past.
Cutting the oil lifeline
"We need China to do more," Ms Haley said.
"President Trump called President Xi this morning
and told him that we've come to the point where
China must cut off the oil for North Korea."
"We know the main driver of its nuclear production
is oil," she said. "The major supplier of that oil is
China."
China is North Korea's biggest ally as well as most
important trading partner and Pyongyang is thought
to be dependent on China for much of its oil
supplies.
Earlier on Wednesday, the White House said that
Mr Trump spoke to Xi Jinping by telephone, urging
him to "use all available levers to convince North
Korea to end its provocations and return to the path
of denuclearisation".
Speaking in Missouri about tax reform, the US
leader derided Mr Kim, describing him as a "sick
puppy" and "little rocket man".
Mr Xi responded by telling Mr Trump it was
Beijing's "unswerving goal to maintain peace and
stability in north-east Asia and denuclearise the
Korean peninsula," Chinese news agency Xinhua
reported.
Experts say the height reached by the inter-
continental ballistic missile (ICBM) indicates
Washington could be within range, although North
Korea is yet to prove it has reached its aim of
miniaturising a nuclear warhead.
The Hwasong-15 missile, described as North
Korea's "most powerful", was launched in darkness
early on Wednesday.
It landed in Japanese waters but flew higher than
any other missile the North had previously tested.
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