The Trump administration threatened new sanctions on North Korea on Wednesday after the reclusive government shattered two and a half months of relative quiet with its most powerful weapon test yet, an intercontinental ballistic missile that some observers believe could reach Washington and the entire US Eastern Seaboard.
President Donald Trump tweeted that he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about Pyongyang's "provocative actions," and he vowed that "additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled!" Trump's top diplomat, Rex Tillerson, said the US could target financial institutions doing business with the North.
The UN Security Council, meanwhile, held an emergency meeting on Wednesday evening.
US State Departments spokesperson Heather Nauert on Wednesday termed North Korea's missile launch as a threat to international peace and hoped that India will contribute more in combating the global problem.
Nauert said that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson considers "diplomatic options" to be "viable and open" when it comes to North Korea.
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The US urged all countries, including India, to cut off diplomatic, trade ties to North Korea.
The US spokesperson in a press conference told ANI, "We hope that India will do more to help with North Korea. It's a global problem."
When asked if the US will consider talking to India over the latter's diplomatic relations with North Korea, she said, "We have a wonderful relation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Government of India."
During US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's late-October visit to India, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had said that the diplomatic channels with North Korea would continue.
"A part of our constant conversations with those nations is to do more to help with North Korea. It's a global problem. We hope that India will do more. We will continue to have our conversations with the government (of India), " Nauert added.
The US State Department spokeswoman said, "The United States strongly condemns North Korea's launch of a likely intercontinental ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, indiscriminately threatening its neighbors, the region, and global peace and security."
"The DPRK's relentless and unlawful pursuit of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them must be reversed. Together, with the international community, we must send a unified message to North Korea it must abandon its weapons of mass destruction programs," she said.
"The United States remains open to finding a peaceful (path) to denuclearization and ending the belligerent actions by North Korea. Our goal for the pressure campaign, in which the entire world has now joined us, is to persuade the regime it needs to reconsider the path that it's currently on and think about engaging in a meaningful dialogue about a different future," Nauert said.
"The President spoke to the South Korean President and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and called Chinese President Xi this morning," she added.
Secretary Tillerson had a talk with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland to discuss how the global community can counter North Korea's threat to international peace.
The United Nations Security Council meeting is likely to take place on December 15 and will be attended by Tillerson.
