North Korea is “begging for war,” U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley said during an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Monday. The council met after the isolated communist country said it conducted another hydrogen bomb test over the weekend.
After going over the history of North Korea’s relationship with the U.N. and its history of continuing its threatening behavior despite sanctions, Haley said that the Security Council must take more aggressive actions.
“To the members of the Security Council, I must say, ‘enough is enough,'” Haley told the council. “We have taken an incremental approach, and despite the best of intentions, it has not worked.”
Although other members might suggest more talks are necessary, that’s an argument Haley didn’t buy since none have resulted in North Korea stopping the development of nuclear weapons.
“Kim Jong-Un’s action cannot be seen as defensive. He wants to be acknowledged as a nuclear power. But being a nuclear power is not about using those terrible weapons to threaten others. Nuclear powers understand their responsibilities. Kim Jong-Un shows no such understanding,” the former South Carolina governor said.
She continued, “His abusive use of missiles, and his nuclear threats show that he is begging for war. War is never something the United States wants. We don’t want it now. But our country’s patience is not unlimited. We will defend our allies and our territory.”
Haley’s strongly-worded speech comes after another week of aggressive behavior from North Korea. On Tuesday, the North fired its first missile over Japan. Then on Sunday, it said it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, its sixth test. Although Pyongyang’s claims could not be independently verified, CNN reports that a magnitude 6.3 tremor was felt after the explosion.
After the test, President Donald Trump took to Twitter, where he wrote, “North Korea has conducted a major Nuclear Test. Their words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States. North Korea is a rogue nation which has become a great threat and embarrassment to China, which is trying to help but with little success.”
Trump also tweeted that the U.S. will consider “stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea,” a statement that confused many since China makes up 90 percent of North Korea’s foreign trade.
South Korea responded to the test with its own military exercises.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis also warned that any threat to the U.S. from North Korea will be met with a “massive military response.”
“Any threat to the United States or its territories, including Guam or our allies will be met with a massive military response — a response both effective and overwhelming,” Mattis, a retired general, said. Mattis added that Kim Jong-Un should listen to what Haley and the other members of the U.N. Security Council have to say.
“This crisis goes well beyond the UN. The United States will look at every country that does business with North Korea as a country that is giving aid to their reckless and dangerous nuclear intentions,” Haley said in her speech Monday. “And what we do on North Korea will have a real impact on how other outlaw nations who seek nuclear weapons choose to conduct themselves in the future. The stakes could not be higher. The urgency is now. Twenty-four years of half measures and failed talks is enough.”