US to push for more North Korea sanctions, says Kim Jong Un is begging for war

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said an emergency session of the Security Council today that "Enough is enough. War is never something the United States wants. We don't want it now. But our country's patience is not unlimited."

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In Short

  • Nikki Haley said that the United States will circulate a draft resolution this week
  • Japan and France are already calling for further sanctions.
  • Nikki Haley says North Korea's actions show that Kim Jong Un, is "begging for war."

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that the United States will circulate a draft resolution this week pushing further sanctions against North Korea.

Haley made the comments at the end of an emergency UN Security Council meeting during which members condemned North Korea's latest nuclear test.

"I think that North Korea basically has slapped everyone in the face in the international community that has asked them to stop," Haley said. She added that she was aiming to put the resolution to a vote next Monday.

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However, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters after the meeting that sanctions alone will not solve the issue, and there need to be negotiations too.

The emergency session was called after North Korea said it detonated a hydrogen bomb underground on Sunday.

Nikki Haley said North Korea's actions show that its leader, Kim Jong Un, is "begging for war," and the time has come for the Security Council to adopt the strongest diplomatic measures.

Haley told an emergency session of the Security Council today that "Enough is enough. War is never something the United States wants. We don't want it now. But our country's patience is not unlimited."

The emergency session comes after comes less than a week after the council strongly condemned the North's "outrageous" launch of a ballistic missile over Japan.

Other Security Council members, including Japan and France, are calling for further sanctions. The council already imposed its stiffest sanctions so far on North Korea last month.

The UN political chief briefed an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on North Korea's powerful nuclear test explosion.

Jeffrey Feltman called North Korea's test a "dangerous provocation" that is profoundly destabilising for the region and the international community, and urged a comprehensive response.

The head of the UN organisation looking into North Korea's recent nuclear test says it is seeking information about a second seismic shock that followed the detonation to rule out the possibility it was a second explosion.

Lassina Zerbo of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization says experts believe the second shock was geological and was caused by the blast.

But he told reporters today that because it was recorded at the same location, the experts are working to have a better understanding of what caused the second shock.

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