U.S. Says Time for Talk On North Korea, OVER!

From AFP:

Nikki Haley, the US envoy to the United Nations, said there was "no point" in holding a fruitless emergency Security Council session, warning that another weak council resolution would be "worse than nothing" in light of the North's repeated violations. 

The US Senate passed new bipartisan sanctions on Pyongyang on Friday. Haley urged China, Japan and South Korea to tighten the screws on Pyongyang. 

"An additional Security Council resolution that does not significantly increase the international pressure on North Korea is of no value," she said in a statement late Sunday. 

"It sends the message to the North Korean dictator that the international community is unwilling to seriously challenge him. "China must decide whether it is finally willing to take this vital step. The time for talk is over."  

The latest ICBM test "poses a seemingly tangible threat to the national security of the US", said Jeung Young-Tae, director of military studies at Dongyang University in South Korea. 

"Now the US will see no point in negotiation, which only helps Pyongyang earn more time to develop its weapons programmes," he said. 

"Whether we want it or not, the risk of unilateral military action by the US cannot be ruled out at this point."

Earlier, Trump warned that he would not allow China -- the impoverished North's sole major ally and economic lifeline -- to "do nothing" about Pyongyang. 

In two tweets Trump linked trade strains with the Asian giant -- marked by a trade deficit of $309 billion last year -- to policy on North Korea, after South Korea indicated it could speed up the deployment of a US missile defence system that has infuriated China. 

"I am very disappointed in China. Our foolish past leaders have allowed them to make hundreds of billions of dollars a year in trade, yet they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk," Trump wrote. 

"We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!"