US would consider talks with North Korea if nuclear, missile tests halt: Nikki Haley

Washington’s envoy to the United Nations on Tuesday said the United States would consider talks with North Korea if it halts all nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

“We are willing to talk, but not until we see a total stop of the nuclear process and of any test there,” the US envoy, Nikki Haley, told reporters ahead of a closed-door Security Council meeting.

Washington and Beijing - the North’s sole diplomatic and military ally - are working on a new Council resolution targeting Pyongyang, she added. “That’s what we are working on now. We don’t have it done yet. Absolutely, sanctions is something that we are looking at and we are going to continue to see where that takes us,” she said.

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On Sunday, North Korea launched what appeared to be the longest-range missile it has ever successfully tested, sparking global alarm. Pyongyang said the missile, the Hwasong-12, was capable of carrying a “heavy nuclear warhead.”

The missile, launched on an unusually high trajectory, flew to an altitude of 2,111.5 kilometres and travelled 787 kilometres before landing in the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

That suggests a range of 4,500 kilometres or more if flown for maximum distance, analysts said.

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