US: Time for Talk Is Over on North Korea

Haley: US Won't Bother to Seek UN Security Council Action

After a solid six months of angrily spurning all calls for diplomacy on North Korea, the Trump Administration today declared “the time for talk is over,” and that they have no intention of seeking further UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley says North Korea is already violating several UN Security Council resolutions anyhow, suggesting that the US needs to rethink its tactics toward something else, while angrily demanding China do more.

China’s already backing out of that suggestion, saying they can’t really do anything by themselves, and suggesting the US and North Korea need to talk between themselves to solve the situation. The lack of effort at the UN Security Council may be a recognition of China’s increasing annoyance at US demands, and the possibility they might block new UN action outright.

Still, Haley’s admission that the UN can’t do anything effectively sidelines her, as the Ambassador to the UN, and puts the US on an even more direct course toward attacking North Korea militarily, having rejected direct diplomacy and now seemingly deciding that international efforts to increase pressure aren’t working either.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.