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UN allows North Koreans to travel to Vietnam
UNITED NATIONS, United States, Feb 21, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A UN Security
Council sanctions committee has agreed to allow North Korean leader Kim Jong
Un’s delegation to travel to Vietnam for a summit meeting with US President
Donald Trump, diplomats said Wednesday.
Vietnam had asked the committee to grant an exemption to senior North
Korean officials who are on a UN sanctions blacklist to allow them to attend
the February 27-28 summit in Hanoi.
The sanctions provide for a global travel ban that bars governments from
granting them visas to come into their countries.
UN diplomats said Vietnam had requested a blanket exemption for the North
Korean officials and that none of the 15 Security Council members had
objected.
The committee also granted exemptions to allow the delegation to attend
the US-North Korean summit in Singapore in June.
Trump and Kim are due to meet in Hanoi next week to try to achieve
progress on scrapping North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missiles program.
In Washington, Trump said Kim must make a “meaningful” gesture on
denuclearization if he wants to UN sanctions to be eased.
Led by the United States, the Security Council has adopted a raft of
sanctions resolutions that ban sales of North Korea imports such as coal and
severely restrict oil supplies to the communist-ruled country.
The United States has insisted that “maximum pressure” from sanctions must
remain in place until Pyongyang has fully scrapped its nuclear and ballistic
missiles program.
But North Korea insists that easing sanctions would build trust along the
way to denuclearization – a stance that has won support from China and
Russia.
“Chairman Kim and I have a very good relationship. I wouldn’t be surprised
to see something work out,” Trump said ahead of the summit.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 0842 hrs