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Pompeo calls for pressure to be maintained on N. Korea
SINGAPORE, Aug 4, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
called Saturday for pressure to be maintained on North Korea as a UN report
warned Pyongyang is circumventing tough sanctions imposed over its nuclear
weapons programme.
In Singapore ahead of a major security forum, Pompeo said he had urged
other countries to strictly enforce United Nations sanctions against North
Korea, which reports suggest has made slow progress to disarmament following
a landmark June summit.
The US’s top diplomat said he had “emphasized the importance of maintaining
diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea to achieve the final, fully
verified denuclearisation that DPRK has agreed to,” using the initials of the
North’s official name.
“I must say from my meetings here, the world is united in seeing this
achieved,” Pompeo told a press conference.
“We’re determined to do it, Chairman Kim is committed to doing it. I’m
optimistic that we will get this done.”
His comments came as a UN report said Friday that North Korea has resorted
to a “massive increase” of illegal ship-to-ship transfers of oil products at
sea to evade sanctions.
The 62-page report sent to the Security Council also listed violations of a
ban on North Korean exports including coal, iron and seafood that generate
millions of dollars in revenue for the reclusive regime.
Pompeo has met with the foreign ministers of China and South Korea in
Singapore, as well as with his Southeast Asian counterparts.
His North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong Ho, is also in the city-state for the
ASEAN Regional Forum, which takes place later in the day. But Pompeo said he
was yet to meet with him on the sidelines of the gathering.
– ‘Joint ventures’ –
At the summit with President Donald Trump in June, the North’s leader Kim
Jong Un signed up to a vague commitment to “denuclearisation of the Korean
Peninsula” — a far cry from long-standing US demands for complete,
verifiable and irreversible disarmament.
MORE/MR/ 0956 hrs
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While there have been small signs of progress since the summit, news
reports indicate Pyongyang is continuing to build rockets and there have been
concerns that some member states are relaxing the enforcement of sanctions on
the North.
“We have seen reports that Russia is allowing for joint ventures with North
Korean firms and granting new work permits to North Korean guest workers,”
Pompeo said.
“If these reports are proven accurate and we have every reason to believe
that they are, that would be in violation” of UN sanctions, he added.
Saturday’s forum, hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN), brings together top diplomats from 26 countries and the European
Union for talks on political and security issues in the Asia-Pacific.
The foreign ministers from all nations involved in stalled “six-party”
negotiations with North Korea aimed at reining in Pyongyang’s nuclear
programme will be at the gathering: China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the
US.
Cutting off oil and fuel to the North would require enforcement primarily
by China, which supplies most of North Korea’s energy needs, but also by
Russia, which delivers some oil to Pyongyang.
Pompeo said that during his meetings in Singapore, he called for countries
to “strictly enforce all sanctions including the complete shut down of
illegal ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum”.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 0956 hrs