US pushes China and Russia to keep up sanctions pressure on North Korea
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accuses Pyongyang of violating UN sanctions and calls for more action to enforce them
The United States on Friday welcomed the UN Security Councilâs united support for the fully verified denuclearisation of North Korea and pressed China and Russia to strictly enforce sanctions to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused North Korea of violating an array of tough sanctions imposed by the council. He warned that âwhen sanctions are not enforced, the prospects for the successful denuclearisation of North Korea are diminishedâ.
Nonetheless, Pompeo told reporters after meeting behind closed doors with the 15 council members that President Donald Trump âremains upbeat about the prospects for denuclearisationâ following his historic summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. âSo do I, as progress is happening,â he added without elaborating.
The Trump administration hopes that one day North Korea will be at the United Nations ânot as a pariah but as a friend,â Pompeo said. But âit will take full enforcement of sanctions for us to get thereâ as well as Kim following through âon his personal commitmentsâ to Trump.
At the summit, Trump and Kim agreed to work toward denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, without describing when and how it would occur.
Follow-up talks this month between Pompeo and North Korean senior officials in Pyongyang had a rocky start, with North Korea accusing the United States of making âunilateral and gangster-likeâ demands.
Pompeo stressed Friday that the 15 Security Council nations âare united on the need for final, fully verified denuclearisation of North Korea.â
Pyongyang for decades has been pushing a concept of âdenuclearisationâ that bears no resemblance to the American definition, vowing to pursue nuclear development unless Washington removes its 28,500 troops from South Korea and the nuclear umbrella defending South Korea and Japan.
China, which is North Koreaâs closest ally and responsible for more than 90 per cent of the isolated countryâs trade, backs North Koreaâs call for a âphased and synchronousâ approach to denuclearisation.
Last month, Beijing suggested the Security Council consider suspending or lifting sanctions on North Korea if it is in compliance with UN resolutions and making progress in negotiations. Russia said Friday it also backs this approach.
Russiaâs deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, said that Pompeo confirmed the US âwill seek the full denuclearisationâ of North Korea.
âIt is necessary that the denuclearisation go step by step with parallel actions by the international community,â Polyansky said. âWe are talking about easing sanctions pressure through the UN Security Council, as well as the removal of unilateral US sanctions.â
Some exemptions have already taken place.
China denies breaching UN sanctions on North Korea
This week, South Korea received exemptions from the Security Council committee monitoring North Korea sanctions for communications lines between the North and South and for some goods for the North including furniture, transport vehicles and a bus.
The US has pushed for rapid moves toward ridding North Korea of its nuclear weapons and says sanctions will remain until Pyongyang follows through on Kimâs pledge.
But Trump has recently been playing down expectations of quick results, saying this week there was âno time limitâ on getting North Korea to denuclearise.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley, standing beside Pompeo, made clear that Kim Jong-un must take action first.
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âWe continue to reiterate we canât do one thing until we see North Korea respond to their promise to denuclearise,â Haley said. âWe have to see some sort of action. And so until that action happens, the Security Council is going to hold tight.â
As for the broader international community, she said, âwe ask you to hold tight as we go forward.â
Pompeo said âthe scope and scaleâ of denuclearisation âis agreed toâ and âthe North Koreans understand what that means,â though he didnât elaborate and sidestepped a question on what the first step should be.
âWe need to see chairman Kim do what he promised the world he would do,â Pompeo said.
Chinese Ambassador Ma Zhaoxu said that âChina is committed to denuclearisationâ and âto peace and stability on the Peninsula.â He added that China will âfully implementâ UN sanctions resolutions, adding that âeveryoneâ else should as well.
But, Pompeo said, North Korea is âillegally smugglingâ in refined petroleum products beyond the quota of 500,000 barrels per year allowed under UN sanctions, mainly by ship-to-ship transfers.
US documents sent to the committee and obtained by The Associated Press cite 89 instances between January 1 and May 30 in which North Korean tankers likely delivered refined products âillicitly procuredâ via such transfers.
The US says Russia and China both informed the sanctions committee that they were supplying refined products to North Korea.
Pompeo said North Korea is also evading sanctions by smuggling coal by sea and across borders, through cyber thefts and other criminal activities, and by keeping workers in some countries that he didnât name.
These actions are all âgenerating significant revenues for the regime and they must be stopped,â he said.
Haley criticised âsome friends who want to go around the rules,â and especially Russia and China for blocking the sanctions committee from demanding that all countries halt shipments of petroleum products to North Korea immediately.
Moscow and Beijing said they need additional time to investigate the US allegations and put a six-month âholdâ on the US request.
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âAre they telling us that they want to continue supplying this oil?â Haley asked. âThey claim they need more information. We donât need any more information. The sanctions committee has what it needs. We all know itâs going forward.â
Dutch Ambassador Karel Van Oosterom said the Security Council made clear to Pompeo that it wants to see âconcrete actions and deedsâ from North Korea to denuclearise.
Van Oosterom, who chairs the North Korea sanctions committee, told reporters: âI think for all of us itâs clear that the progress is in the talks so far, that the engagement is there and the discussions are taking place.â
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said North Korea made âa clear commitment on complete denuclearisation repeatedly and, of course, very forcefully at the Singapore summit with President Trump, and we will hold them up to that commitment.â