The US and its allies on Tuesday vowed tougher measures to halt North Korean sanctions-busting, including naval security operations to prevent maritime smuggling.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, hosts of talks in Vancouver, urged world powers to support “maritime interdiction” measures.
Along with Japan, South Korea and the other powers gathered for the high-level meeting, they recommitted to “the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
The warning of robust new tactics to intercept illicit shipments of nuclear materials or sanctions-busting imports was the most concrete measure to come out of a two-day meeting to which China and Russia were not invited.
Many observers, including Beijing and Moscow, had questioned the value of holding a meeting of former Korean War allies to discuss an issue when China’s support remains the key to diplomatic success.
Others had noted a stark difference in tone between the hawkish Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Ono and more cautious South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha, who said that recent inter-Korea talks were a sign sanctions are already working.
However, after the meeting was completed, Tillerson said that the allies would remain united, and continue to work with China and Russia to enforce UN-backed sanctions and force North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to negotiate his regime’s nuclear disarmament.
“Our unity and our common cause with others in the region, most particularly China and Russia, will remain intact, despite North Korea’s frequent attempts to divide us and sow dissension,” he said.
“We discussed the importance of working together to counter sanctions evasion and smuggling, and we also issued a call to action to strengthen global maritime interdiction operations to foil illicit ship-to-ship transfers,” Tillerson said.
North Korea has been accused of seeking to evade the draconian sanctions imposed on its isolated regime by transferring supplies from foreign vessels to its own on the high seas.
Some experts have said that naval action to intercept merchant ships would be interpreted as an act of war and trigger a potentially devastating North Korean response.
Reports in Washington suggest that US forces are at least planning for a potential strike of their own, a limited so-called “bloody nose” strike to convince Kim that his safest option is a negotiated settlement.
Tillerson refused to address military planning issues and would not say whether US President Donald Trump has been in contact with Pyongyang, but he did say that the crisis is coming to a head.
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