Seoul/Tokyo - US President Donald
Trump's speech to the United Nations, where he warned he would
"totally destroy" North Korea if threatened, reinforced the need
for Pyongyang to realise it must give up its nuclear weapons,
South Korea said on Wednesday.
In a hard-edged speech to the United Nations General
Assembly on Tuesday, Trump mocked North Korean leader Kim Jong
Un as a "rocket man" for his repeated ballistic missile tests.
Trump's most direct military threat to attack North Korea was his latest expression of concern about Pyongyang's repeated weapons tests.
"The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea," Trump told the 193-member world body. "Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime."
In a thunderous speech, 42 minutes long according to the official transcript, also Trump took aim at Iran's nuclear ambitions and regional influence, Venezuela's collapsing democracy and the threat of Islamist extremists. "Major portions of the world are in conflict and some in fact are going to hell," he said.
"We view the speech as portraying a firm and specific stance
on the key issues regarding keeping peace and safety that the
international community and the United Nations are faced with,"
the office of South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a
statement on Wednesday.
"It clearly showed how seriously the United States
government views North Korea's nuclear programme as the
president spent an unusual amount of time discussing the issue,"
the presidential Blue House's statement said.
Trump's speech "reaffirmed that North Korea should be made
to realise denuclearisation is the only way to the future
through utmost sanctions and pressure", it said.
Moon came to power in May on a platform of more engagement
with North Korea. Since Pyongyang's sixth and largest nuclear
test earlier on September 3, however, Moon has said the time is not
right for dialogue.
He and Trump plan to meet in New York early on Wednesday
U.S. time, Moon's office said.
US ally Japan, which Pyongyang often threatens to destroy,
has taken a consistently hard line on North Korea, pushing for
increased sanctions and pressure.
"We greatly appreciate President Trump’s approach to
changing North Korea’s policy stance, denuclearising the country
and calling on the international community, including China and
Russia, for their cooperation toward strengthening pressure on
North Korea," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told
reporters.
Suga also welcomed Trump's reference to a Japanese girl who
was kidnapped by North Korean agents in 1977.
The plight of abuctees is a key issue for Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe, who has pledged to rescue them while in
office, and an emotive one for the Japanese public.
North Korea admitted in 2002 it had kidnapped 13 Japanese in
the 1970s and 1980s to train spies. Five of them returned to
Japan but Tokyo suspects that hundreds more may have been taken.
North Korea, which has conducted more than 80 missile tests
under third-generation leader Kim, says it needs its weapons to
protect itself from US aggression. South Korea and the United
States are technically still at war with North Korea after the
1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce, not a peace treaty.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, interviewed by Fox
News on Tuesday, highlighted Washington's policy of pressuring
North Korea through sanctions.
"We have the strictest sanctions ever put in place. We do
believe there are early signs of those having an effect," he
said. "Ultimately, though, we're going to need the assistance of
the neighbours in the region."
The UN Security Council has unanimously imposed nine
rounds of sanctions on North Korea since 2006, the latest
earlier this month aimed at restricting fuel supplies and
cutting off textile exports, a key foreign exchange earner.
The United States has urged China, North Korea's main ally
and trading partner, and Russia to do more to rein in Kim,
something Trump appeared to allude to in his speech.
"It is an outrage that some nations would not only trade
with such a regime but would arm, supply and financially support
a country that imperils the world with nuclear conflict," Trump
told the General Assembly.
China has yet to respond to Trump's speech, but Foreign
Minister Wang Yi told his French counterpart during a meeting in
New York on Tuesday that Beijing supports a peaceful resolution
to the North Korea issue and it was incorrect to say China has
not done enough.
"China has always comprehensively and fully implemented
Security Council resolutions on North Korea, and fully carries
out its international obligations," Wang said, according to a
Chinese Foreign Ministry statement.