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United States warns North Korea it has 'considerable military forces' and is ready to use them

The US is now pushing for tougher sanctions.

South Korea Koreas Tensions A TV screen plays images of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observing the missile test. Lee Jin-man / PA Images Lee Jin-man / PA Images / PA Images

THE UNITED STATES has pushed for tougher sanctions on North Korea at the UN Security Council, warning the isolated regime’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile had drastically narrowed the path for diplomacy.

In a hard-hitting address, US Ambassador Nikki Haley said Tuesday’s ICBM test had made “the world a more dangerous place,” and reiterated that Washington was ready to use force if need be to deal with the threat of a nuclear-armed Pyongyang.

Tuesday’s launch — styled by leader Kim Jong-Un as a gift to “American bastards” — marked a milestone in Pyongyang’s decades-long drive for the capability to threaten the US mainland with a nuclear strike, and poses a stark foreign policy challenge for Donald Trump.

The US president had dismissed the idea of the North possessing a working ICBM, vowing it “won’t happen”, but experts said the missile could reach Alaska or even further towards the continental US.

At the UN, Haley called the launch “a clear and sharp military escalation”, and US and South Korean forces fired off missiles yesterday into the Sea of Japan simulating a precision strike against North Korea’s leadership.

Washington had “considerable military forces”, Haley said. “We will use them if we must.”

South Korea Koreas Tensions A US Army tactical missile is fired into the east sea during a military exercise. US Army / PA Images US Army / PA Images / PA Images

But the US focus, she told the council, was to push through tighter sanctions, and it would submit a new draft resolution within days.

In all, six sets of sanctions have been imposed on North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006, but have failed to prevent its military advances.

New measures could target countries that continue to trade with North Korea, curb oil exports to the isolated country, tighten air and maritime restrictions and impose travel bans on its officials.

Haley singled out China — increasingly in the US administration’s crosshairs as the North’s sole major ally and economic lifeline — as key to any diplomatic solution, only days after Trump said Beijing’s efforts had failed.

“We will work with China,” Haley said, “but we will not repeat the inadequate approaches of the past that have brought us to this dark day.”

BBC News / YouTube

The US drive won backing from France, but raised immediate protests from fellow permanent Security Council member Russia, whose Deputy Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov warned that “sanctions will not resolve the issue.”

China’s Ambassador Liu Jieyi once more pushed Beijing’s alternative proposal for talks based on a freeze of North Korea’s missile and nuclear tests, in exchange for a halt to US-South Korean military drills — which has repeatedly been rejected by Washington and Seoul.

‘Nuclear attack’

Washington and Seoul are in a security alliance, with 28,500 US troops stationed in the South to protect it.

In a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of the G20 summit she is hosting, South Korean President Moon Jae-In said the level of the North’s nuclear and missile capabilities was already a problem, “but the bigger problem is that the speed of progress is far faster than expected.”

Sanctions and pressure, he added, should be a means to push the North to the negotiating table, “and should not break the peace itself”.

The Hwasong-14 missile only travelled little more than 900 kilometers (560 miles) to come down in the Sea of Japan, but the altitude it reached — more than 2,800 kilometers according to Pyongyang — demonstrated it can travel far further.

South Korea’s Defense Minister Han Min-koo put its range at 7,000 to 8,000 kilometers — far enough to put US Pacific Command in Hawaii within reach.

The North, which says it needs atomic weapons to defend itself against the threat of invasion, said the test proved the missile’s re-entry capabilities and it could carry a heavy nuclear warhead.

Questions remain over the missile’s precise capabilities, but concerns over its implications are mounting in the South. “A North Korean ICBM carrying a nuclear warhead is a game-changer,” the JoongAng Ilbo said in an editorial Thursday.

“What worries us is the uncertainty of whether the US would defend us if North Korea attacks Seoul. We cannot be sure if the US would risk a nuclear attack on New York or Los Angeles.”

© – AFP 2017

Read: UN Security Council to meet today as North Korea provokes the US with missile tests >

Read: North Korea says it successfully tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile >

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    Mute Bananaquit
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    May 9th 2023, 12:16 PM

    Getting involved in the culture wars won’t help their prospects

    321
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    Mute Madra
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    May 9th 2023, 11:56 AM

    These polls are getting easier. No.

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    Mute Stanley Marsh
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    May 9th 2023, 2:13 PM

    @Madra: Have to agree.

    Not good when the soundings out of the camp in recent days has switched to ‘we’re just happy to be here regardless of the result’.

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    Mute Peter
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    May 9th 2023, 3:16 PM

    @Madra:

    There are no difficulty levels

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    Mute Larry Betts
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    May 9th 2023, 12:41 PM

    “Eurovision” would be a great name for an EU optician company. Everyone makes a spectacle of themselves.

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    Mute Jim Bob
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    May 9th 2023, 12:48 PM

    I absolutely and sincerely hope not.
    An absolute embarrassment to the country.

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    May 9th 2023, 1:04 PM

    @Jim Bob: Sounds okay to me. Anyone know why he’s wearing a hood like a disco ball?

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    Mute Vincent Walsh
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    May 9th 2023, 12:02 PM

    After Dustin and Jedward, I’d say no one takes Ireland serious.

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    Mute Rachel Evans
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    May 9th 2023, 12:45 PM

    @Vincent Walsh: Jedward finished 6th in final! Our best result for a long time.

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    Mute qffaffaf affrafrfraf
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    May 9th 2023, 11:51 AM

    not a hope in hell, poor song

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    Mute RJ
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    May 9th 2023, 12:51 PM

    Where is the ‘don’t care’ option.

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    Mute Larry Betts
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    May 9th 2023, 1:02 PM

    @RJ: It’s going to be back for tomorrow’s poll. Two options as answers. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IGNORANCE AND APATHY? A) I DON’T KNOW B) I DON’T CARE

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    Mute Terry Fagan
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    May 9th 2023, 1:41 PM

    @RJ: you cared enough to comment.

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    Mute Larry Betts
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    May 9th 2023, 4:49 PM

    @Terry Fagan: For a comment like that: Null Point

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    Mute Brendan O'Connell
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    May 9th 2023, 11:54 AM

    Bring on Dustin.

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    Mute Liam
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    May 9th 2023, 1:16 PM

    Where is the “I couldnt give a fiddlers” option on the poll?

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    Mute Willie Marty
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    May 9th 2023, 1:19 PM

    They wouldnt win their way out of a paper bag

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    Mute Ann Nugent
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    May 9th 2023, 1:36 PM

    No .Poor Lyrics also Title is childish.

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    Mute JOHN
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    May 9th 2023, 12:14 PM

    ,,,,they’ll generally have decided on a winner before voting even begins. Now where does Ireland stand?

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    Mute Gummo
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    May 9th 2023, 3:00 PM

    Doesn’t matter Ukraine will be picked to win again

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    Mute Patrick Clancy
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    May 9th 2023, 12:27 PM

    Had a chance until Dustin was mentioned. What a waste if Rte were the people who decided he should be on stage

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    Mute Ollie Fitzpatrick
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    May 9th 2023, 1:07 PM

    Plenty of readers that don’t care., cared enough to read the article and vote!!!

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    Mute Sean Ryan
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    May 9th 2023, 2:33 PM

    Maybe but they definitely won’t win. For once I’m not rooting for us.

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    Mute Willie Marty
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    May 9th 2023, 3:45 PM

    Irelande non points

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    Mute Tony O Neill
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    May 9th 2023, 3:05 PM

    That gold yoke he’s wearing is horrible. Harry styles wannabe. Not very wild.

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    Mute Charlie
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    May 9th 2023, 3:21 PM

    Not a chance. They are muck.

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    Mute Paul Shepherd
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    May 9th 2023, 3:40 PM

    I couldn’t vote as there wasn’t an option for “couldn’t care less”.

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    Mute Niall Sheridan
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    May 9th 2023, 4:42 PM

    As long as RTE are running the competition in Ireland we will never win. They consistently send turkeys (Sorry Dustin!) to make sure Ireland won’t win. If we did RTE would have to host the competition the following year! It would near bankrupt the station, who would have to go to the Government for a bailout. Answer is privatise the station!

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    Mute Eamonn Tierney
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    May 9th 2023, 1:46 PM

    An opportunity to show Putin “We Are One”

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    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
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    May 9th 2023, 1:06 PM

    I don’t know. And that isn’t an option!

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    Mute Gearóid MacEachaidh
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    May 9th 2023, 4:38 PM

    It’s not the worst song we’ve had in the last 10 years but it’s not far off it. I’d be very surprised if we get through. Sweden will win on Saturday night. But I like the Danish song.

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    Mute Joanne Stokes
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    May 9th 2023, 4:15 PM

    What is with the silver masks, what are they hiding come on!

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    Mute Dave
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    May 9th 2023, 4:47 PM

    Is there an option that we dont care????

    Vote here you don’t care

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    Mute Gummo
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    May 9th 2023, 3:01 PM

    Why don’t they send U2

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    Mute Hotirish
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    May 9th 2023, 8:55 PM

    OMG, the Irish fella is packing some serious camel toe!!!

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    Mute ian cryan
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    May 9th 2023, 6:18 PM

    aww Jesus stop entering this

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    Mute Michael
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    May 9th 2023, 4:50 PM

    Guys, I hope U2 got some credit on that song.. Where the streets have no name sounds awwwwful familiar. Don’t believe it? Go listen…

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    Mute Brendan Tannam
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    May 9th 2023, 7:31 PM

    Cliche-ridden pap produced by ChatGPT.

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    Mute Garreth Byrne
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    May 9th 2023, 5:49 PM

    What is Eurovizmuz? I could ask essential questions like, What is existentialism…What is the meaning of Meaning…Where is it all at? etc. etc.

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