No nukes, no sanctions for North Korea, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tells China
Pyongyang must fully dismantle its nuclear programme before it can expect an end to the tough international penalties that many say brought it to the table this week in Singapore
The US’ top diplomat stressed on Thursday that North Korea would not gain any sanctions relief until the country had completely abandoned its nuclear weapons, pushing back against suggestions from China that tough United Nations-led penalties would soon be eased.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo underlined the position on sanctions and nuclear weapons in talks in Beijing with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, after meeting his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Seoul earlier in the day.
Pompeo said China reaffirmed its commitment to honouring the “UN Security Council resolutions and those mechanisms for relief contained in them”.
“And we agreed that at [the] appropriate time, those would be considered. But we have made it very clear, that the sanctions and the economic relief that North Korea will receive will only happen after the full denuclearisation, the complete denuclearisation in North Korea,” he said.
Asked whether China supported the American approach on sanctions, Wang sidestepped the question, stressing only that Beijing and Washington needed to consider Pyongyang’s security concerns.