The U.S is better known for imposing it’s rules rather than negotiating. In What can be termed as the biggest instance of power tussle, Trump asked the United Nations security council to impose an oil embargo on North Korea, ban its exports of textiles and the hiring of North Korean laborers abroad, and subject leader Kim Jung Un to an asset freeze and travel ban, according to a draft resolution.
Since North Korea conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test on Sunday, showed Pyongyang has been close to achieving its goal of developing a powerful nuclear weapon that could reach the U.S. Amid the rising tensions, Seoul installed the four remaining launchers of the U.S. anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system on a former golf course in the south on Thursday.
The decision to deploy the THAAD system has drawn strong objections from China, which believes its radar could be used to look deeply into its territory and will upset the regional security balance.
U.S. Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, said he had an executive order ready for Trump to sign that would impose sanctions on any country that trades with Pyongyang if the UN does not put additional sanctions on North Korea. Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe and South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, spoke at a regional meeting in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok and agreed to try to persuade China and Russia to cut off oil to North Korea.
However, sanctions have so far done little to stop North Korea boosting its nuclear and missile capacity as it faces off with Trump. China and Russia have advocated a “freeze for freeze” plan, where the United States and South Korea would stop major military exercises in exchange for North Korea halting its weapons programs, but neither side appears willing to budge.
South Korean Marines wrapped up a three-day firing drill on Thursday aimed at protecting its islands just south of the border with North Korea, while the air force will finish up a week-long drill. North Korea says it needs to develop its weapons to defend itself against what it sees as U.S. aggression. South Korea and the U.S. are technically still at war with North Korea after the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce, not a peace treaty.
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