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Kerry says U.S. and China discuss further sanctions on North Korea

18 May 2015 20:18 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The United States and China are discussing imposing further sanctions on North Korea, which is "not even close" to taking steps to rein in its nuclear weapons program, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Speaking in the South Korean capital, Kerry said Washington had offered the North the chance of an improved relationship in return for signs of genuine willingness to end its nuclear program.

"To date, to this moment, particularly with recent provocations, it is clear the DPRK is not even close to meeting that standard," Kerry told a joint news conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se.

"Instead it continues to pursue nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles."

The secretive North, officially named the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is already under heavy U.N., EU and U.S. sanctions for its missile and nuclear tests.

"I think never has the international community been as united as we are now that, number one, North Korea needs to denuclearize," Kerry said.

He said Russia, Japan and South Korea, which along with the United States and China are part of talks stalled since North Korea walked away in 2009, were also concerned about a renewed threat from the North.

Kerry said a pending nuclear deal with Iran could serve as an example to Pyongyang.

"With respect to the methodology for boosting sanctions and other things, we (the United States and China) are discussing all of that now. China has obviously an extraordinary leverage.

"We will have security and economic dialogue with the Chinese in Washington in June and that will be the moment where we will table some of these specific steps."

Kerry did not elaborate on possible measures and it was not clear whether he was referring to steps that would be taken by the two powers or by the United Nations.