US President Barack Obama referred to North Korea as a “big
worry” after a meeting with his G7 counterparts, as tensions escalate following
Pyongyang’s series of nuclear tests.
North Korea is a big worry for all of us,” Obama said.
“It is not the thing that poses necessarily the most
immediate risk. (But) when you have such an unstable regime that is so
isolated, that poses the kind of medium-term threat that we have to pay a lot
of attention to.”
Tensions between North and South Korea have been running
high since Pyongyang conducted its fourth nuclear test in January.
The UN Security Council in March imposed its toughest
sanctions to date following the January nuclear test and a long-range rocket
launch the following month. The North had already been subject to a range of
sanctions because of earlier nuclear tests — in 2006, 2009 and 2013 — and a
series of long-range missile tests presented as satellite launches.
The Security Council resolutions condemned the nuclear tests
and rocket launches as a threat to international peace and security. North
Korea has challenged the sanctions, arguing that no international laws or
agreements stipulate that nuclear tests are such a threat. It has also noted
that the Security Council never sanctioned the United States or other countries
for their nuclear tests or ballistic missile launches. Its long-held argument
is its push for a nuclear deterrent has been forced by US hostility.
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