Republican Senator Cory Gardner has called for a bill to add new sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear weapons development and human rights abuses. Gardner said on Tuesday North Korea's threats have been ignored as the United States has been focused on the Middle East. File photo by Gary C. Caskey/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., said the Obama Administration's policy of "strategic patience" toward North Korea was a "strategic failure," and Pyongyang's threat has "grown exponentially" while Washington's focus has been turned on the Middle East.

Gardner made the remarks during a panel on North Korea organized by Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, Yonhap reported. Gardner's observations about Washington's focus away from North Korea due to the ongoing violence in Syria and Iraq was echoed by Michael Kirby, the former head of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on North Korea human rights.


"The terrible events that have been unfolding in the Middle East and in the Arab lands are naturally the focus of international news media ... But the result of that is that North Korea has definitely gone off the main attention," Kirby said.

Last December, the United Nations General Assembly requested the U.N. Security Council refer North Korea human rights abuses to the International Criminal Court after Kirby and a panel issued a report stating North Korea's leadership is responsible for the "widespread, systematic and gross" violations of rights in the country.

Those abuses, however, have been ignored, according to Kirby. He said Pyongyang's rights violations, and nuclear and missile programs must be dealt with before North Korea becomes a "real trouble and harassment" to the United States.

Gardner said North Korea is a "grave threat." Citing previous estimates, the senator said Pyongyang is believed to have up to 20 nuclear warheads, a growing problem that has been neglected.

"While our nation's attention is rightfully focused on the Middle East, the North Korean threat has grown exponentially and the United States is seemingly falling asleep at the switch to this grave threat. It is clear that our policy of strategic patience has been a strategic failure," Gardner said.

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The United States and the other four members of the six-party talks on North Korea denuclearization has urged Pyongyang to take the appropriate steps, but even the patience of traditional allies like Russia is wearing thin.

Alexander Timonin, the Russian ambassador to South Korea, told a forum of regional leaders in Seoul that Moscow does not tolerate a nuclear North Korea, South Korean outlet No Cut News reported.

In order to solve the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula, the security environment must be radically transformed, Timonin said on Tuesday.