Kit Bond urges action against North Korea
Bond
U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., says the United States should call North Korea’s bluff and stop the cargo ship off China’s coast that is suspected of carrying arms in violation of a recent United Nations resolution.
“I believe we should either board it or force it into a port and inspect that ship,” Bond said today while in St. Louis for an unrelated event.
A U.S. Navy destroyer has been following the North Korean-flagged freighter, the Kang Nam 1, as it steams south past Taiwan. U.S. intelligence suspects that it is carrying artillery or missiles to Myanmar, another reclusive dictatorship in Southeast Asia.
The U.N. has voted to prohibit North Korean arms shipments as punishment for North Korea’s nuclear-warhead test on May 25. But earlier today, a U.S. State Department official in South Korea said the U.S. will not use force to stop the ship.
Bond said North Korea’s recent bluster about attacking the U.S. with nuclear weapons is hollow and, in part, a result of Western efforts to placate the North Korean government. Bond was bi-partisan in his criticism of American policy, blaming former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush for seeking agreements with North Korea.
“This is what we have got to show for it,” Bond said, referring to recent pronouncements from Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. “I think they want to bully the free world into giving more aid… We need to continue with pressure.”
In recent days, the North Korean government has threatened a “fire shower of nuclear retaliation” if the U.S. were to stop the freighter. Bond said he considered North Korean dictator Kim Jong II to be unstable, but said, “At least some people in North Korean know that it would be annihilation for them” to attack the U.S.
Bond was asked about the freighter during an appearance at the Jewel Box in Forest Park to receive an award from Heat-Up St. Louis, a charity that helps low-income people with utility bills.
“At least some people in North Korean…”
If you’re going to quote somebody, is it too much to ask for accuracy ??
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