US sanctions on North Kora ineffective: Journalist

Press TV has interviewed Michael Penn, a journalist and political commentator from Tokyo, about new round of talks at the United Nations Security Council on North Korea’s latest nuclear test.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Another big Not in the standoff with North Korea how convoluted is the situation getting now?

Penn: Well, it's very much at a standstill, there were at earlier years, there has been some movement on diplomatic front to reconcile North Korea and South Korea or to reconcile Japan and North Korea to some extent but those things have all been frozen for some time. And obviously the missile tests which North Korea has been doing more and more frequently and the two nuclear tests which is done this year have put that diplomatic movement back into the deep freeze for the foreseeable future.

Press TV: What do you think will come out of the UNSC closed-door meeting regarding North Korea's latest nuclear test? US President Barack Obama is about to push for new international sanctions against the North and Russia on the other hand albeit condemning the nuclear test from North Korea stated that Moscow wants to see restraint from all parties involved.

Penn: Well, my guess would be that there will be some kind of new sanctions but what you have to realize is that North Korea's already under quite heavy sanctions and there's not really many tools in the toolbox which are left remaining for them to use. So, yes there will be a lot of rhetorical condemnation as we've seen already and those will continue and there probably will be some kind of new sanctions program but again it's not clear that this will have any effect beyond what the North Korea's already suffering from sanctions.

Press TV: Mr. Penn, many observers of the situation see this as that broken cycle as to what's taking place on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang recently stated that it will not quit its nuclear program because of the long-running hostility from Seoul and Washington on the other hand. We have Seoul and Washington with their continued military drills, the deployment of the THAAD missile system in Sangju, do you see it in that light as well?

Penn: Well, it's a standoff and clearly North Korea has calculated that showing the world that it can strike back in a physical way it is now basically suggesting that it can put nuclear weapons on missiles and to send them to very far distances, there’s even been some suggestion they could even reach as far as the west coast united states of their missile technology now. So, North Korea's saying that if you mess with us we can destroy lots of people and lots of lives. Now, is North Korea actually being threatened with invasion? Probably not, not at least in immediate term but this is the attitude that their government is taking towards its neighbors and the rest of world.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk