US urges China to cut off North Korea's oil supply

The United States on Wednesday urged China to cut off crude oil shipments to North Korea and pressed all countries to isolate Kim Jong-Un's regime by cutting off all diplomatic and trade ties.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that North Korea's latest test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) "demands that countries further isolate the Kim regime."

During a phone conversation earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump asked President Xi Jinping to cut off China's crude oil supplies to North Korea, a move that would deal a crippling blow to North Korea's economy.

Trump told the Chinese leader "that we have come to the point that China must cut off the oil from North Korea," Haley said.

"That would be a pivotal step in the world's effort to stop this international pariah," she said.

Haley also called "on all nations to cut off all ties with North Korea" and said the Security Council should take away North Korea's voting rights at the United Nations.

The council was meeting at the request of the United States, Japan and South Korea to consider next steps after three rounds of sanctions adopted in the past year failed to push North Korea to change course.

Haley said the ICBM launch had raised the threat of war.

"The dictator of North Korea made a choice yesterday that brings the world closer to war, not farther from it."

"If war comes, make no mistake: The North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed," she warned.

TRT World spoke to Frank Ucciardo at the UN in New York, and Joseph Kim in Seoul about what the US envoy's warnings to Pyongyang mean.

Pyongyang on Wednesday tested its third ICBM - which it claimed was capable of striking anywhere in the United States - snapping a two-month pause in missile launches.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, meanwhile, called on North Korea to stop its missile and nuclear tests and for the United States and South Korea not to hold military drills in December as it would "inflame an already explosive situation."

"We strongly call on all concerned parties to stop this spiral of tension," he told the UN Security Council. "It is essential to take a step back and weigh the consequences of each move."