Taiwan is complying with international sanctions against North Korea, a senior security official told the US’ deputy representative for North Korea yesterday, having previously been called out for breaking them.
Taiwan is not a member of the UN, but says that as a responsible global player it is committed to ensuring sanctions are enforced to rein in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
In 2018, independent UN monitors told a UN Security Council sanctions committee in a confidential report that they had investigated cases of ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products in contravention of sanctions and that the network behind the vessels was primarily based in Taiwan.
Two Taiwanese men and two local companies were named in a sanction list released by the US Department of the Treasury on Aug. 31 last year for participating in ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum products destined for North Korea.
National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) headed a team that took part in a telephone meeting yesterday with US Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Deputy Assistant Secretary for North Korea Alex Wong (黃之瀚) to discuss the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a news release.
Tsai and Wong exchanged opinions about how both sides could work together to push North Korea to achieve verifiable denuclearization and promote regional security, it said.
As a responsible member of the global community, Taiwan would continue to work closely with the US and carry out international sanctions on North Korea, it said.
Officials from the Executive Yuan’s Department of Cyber Security and Anti-Money Laundering Office, and the Coast Guard Administration took part in the telephone meeting, it said.
Taiwan has called on local companies to comply with UN sanctions, and in 2017 it suspended refined oil and liquefied natural gas exports to North Korea, as well as clothing and textile imports, to comply with UN resolutions.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-nan and staff writer
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