By Hannah Stafford, News Editor
The isolated state of North Korea conducted its fifth and largest nuclear test on Sept. 9.
This is not the first time North Korea has threatened the world with nuclear weapons. In March 2013, a statement by a spokesperson for North Korea’s foreign affairs issued a blatant warning to the U.S.
“Now that the U.S. is set to light a fuse for a nuclear war, the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) will exercise the right to a pre-emptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors and to defend the supreme interests of the country,” the statement read (NBC News).
[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Multiple photos have been released of conservative protesters in South Korea burning Kim Jong-un effigies and protesting his nuclear activity.[/perfectpullquote]
Following the 2013 threat, the U.N. immediately took action to block any further nuclear development in North Korea. However, as indicated by the test conducted late last week, Kim Jong-un, supreme leader of North Korea, is not interested in complying. This is the second extensive nuclear test in 2016.
According to the Huffington Post, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Beyung-se warned that North Korea had made significant progress in their developments of the nuclear bomb, despite U.N. sanctions. South Korea has continually expressed concern over North Korea’s nuclear developments and recently called for the U.N. to apply “unbearable pain on the North to leave no choice but to change.”
Multiple photos have been released of conservative protesters in South Korea burning Kim Jong-un effigies and protesting his nuclear activity.
The U.S, Great Britain and France all urge the U.N. to tighten sanctions and have called on China and Russia for assistance. North Korea economically relies heavily on China; however, leading experts do not predict that China will comply with the U.N.
“The United States cannot rely on China for North Korea,” said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, to The New York Times. “Maybe now at this moment, China is closer to North Korea than the United States.”
While Russia has also verbalized opposition to North Korea’s recent developments, it has not specified a course of action. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov believes that it will take more than sanctions to resolve the crisis.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, “We have made overture after overture to the dictator of North Korea.”
Despite his efforts, North Korea refuses to accept the terms of denuclearization.
As North Korea continues to ignore warnings from the U.S. and other global powers without noticeable repercussions, speculation grows as to if this could affect the upcoming presidential election.
After a similar incident in Jan. 2016, Florida Senator Marco Rubio said, “If this test is confirmed, it will just be the latest example of the failed Obama-Clinton foreign policy.”
The GOP, however, has also received considerable backlash for its more extreme foreign policy and the nominee, Donald Trump, believes that China is to blame (CNN).