US to Increase Pressure On North Korea After Rocket Launch

Posted December 17th, 2012 at 7:05 pm (UTC-5)
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The U.S. says it will increase pressure to further isolate the North Korean government after Pyongyang launched a rocket into space last week in defiance of an international ban.

At her daily briefing Monday, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters that despite U.S. efforts last year to engage North Korea's new leader Kim Jong Un in a dialogue, the regime violated the United Nations ban twice this year, with a failed rocket launch in April and a second one deemed successful on December 12.

The United States had offered a large shipment of food to the chronically impoverished country in exchange for a nuclear freeze.

Nuland said the United States has no choice but to continue increasing pressure on the North Korean regime with its allies until officials in Pyongyang get the message.

She also dismissed the possibility or reviving six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament. She said none of the parties in the talks wants to reward North Korea for violating its international obligations.

North Korean officials say the country launched a weather satellite into orbit, but it is generally believed that the regime is testing its missile launching capabilities.

The United Nations has repeatedly sanctioned the country for conducting nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 and test-launching missiles.

News reports from the region suggest that the North Korean satellite is most likely dead.

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