Us warns russia over north korea nuclear missile punishment

Washington gave Beijing a draft resolution earlier this month which included plans to impose stricter measures on the hermit state over the July 4 missile launch. But any punishment relies

on China's cooperation with Russia as tensions on the Korean peninsula escalate and Washington-Moscow relations are pushed to breaking point.  Nikki Haley, the US’s UN ambassador, told

reporters China’s initial response to the plans showed “seriousness”, adding: "We're constantly in touch with China... Things are moving but it's still too early to tell how

far they'll move. "We know that China's been sharing and negotiating with Russia, so as long as they are doing that, we're going to continue to watch this closely to make

sure it is a strong resolution. "The true test will be what [the Chinese] have worked out with Russia [and whether] Russia comes and tries to pull out of that.” Ms Haley’s Chinese

counterpart, Liu Jieyi, said: “We are making progress, it requires time, but we're working very hard." The US, China, Russia, Britain and France are the five members of the UN

Security Council with the ability to veto plans, although traditionally Washington and Beijing discuss issues surrounding North Korea before speaking to other representatives. Despite the

comments from the UN ambassadors, China’s Washington envoy claimed Beijing objected to secondary sanctions. Last month, the US blacklisted two Chinese citizens and a shipping company for

helping North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. Mr Cui told the Institute for China-American Studies in Washington: “Such actions are unacceptable. They have severely impaired

China-US cooperation on the Korean nuclear issue, and give rise to more questions about the true intention of the US.” The news comes amid fears that Kim Jong-un’s regime could conduct

another nuclear test this week to coincide with the Korean War Armistice Day, which Pyongyang celebrates as “Victory Day”. Launching equipment was detected arriving in Kusong last Friday,

and according to a US defence official, it signals Kim Jong-un is preparing to launch another test intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) within days. Kusong has been the location for

other missile tests in the past, including a May test of a KN-17 intermediate range missile which travelled almost 500 miles before hitting the Sea of Japan. The reclusive regime fired a

test ICBM on July 4 which had the potential of reaching Alaska. However, despite the sabre-rattling by North Korea, US military experts doubt the regime can follow through with its claims

with only the capability to launch a “limited” attack. Vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Paul Selva said the July 4 test stopped short of showing North Korea had "the

capacity to strike the United States with any degree of accuracy or reasonable confidence of success.”