Keeping Up Sanctions

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South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump have agreed to maintain the tough sanctions on Pyongyang until the regime agrees to resume dialogue. The two leaders spoke over the phone Thursday night to discuss North Korea's latest missile provocation.

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President Moon Jae-in spoke on the phone with his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, at 10 p.m. Thursday for about an hour to discuss Pyongyang's latest missile provocation. The two heads of state spoke on the phone about five hours after North Korea fired a missile on November 29. It was the first time under the current administration that the two leaders spoke on the phone for two consecutive days. President Moon said that although the Hwasong-15 missile is the most advanced type of North Korean missile to date, it has yet to be confirmed whether or not it can re-enter the atmosphere or has the terminal guidance technology. He added that it's also still unclear if the missile's nuclear warhead has been minimized in size. The Korean president stressed that the most urgent tasks at hand at this point is to prevent the advancement of nuclear missile technologies in the North and eventually discard them altogether. In the phone conversation, President Moon tried to persuade President Trump that North Korea has not yet crossed the so called red line by deploying compact nuclear warheads on its ICBMs, and that it's not yet time for the U.S. to take
military action. At a National Security Council meeting convened after Pyongyang's missile launch on Thursday morning, President Moon said that the North must be prevented from misjudging the situation and threatening the South with its nuclear weapons, while the United States must be prevented from conducting a pre-emptive strike. Moon also stressed that demonstrating the military force of the South Korea-U.S. alliance could also help to stop Pyongyang from making mistakes. President Trump reportedly said that he fully supports Seoul's efforts to beef up its defense capabilities by acquiring state-of-the-art military assets. The two heads of state have vowed to implement as many sanctions against North Korea as possible until it agrees to abandon its nuclear ambitions and returns to the negotiating table.