Canada, U.S. join forces on North Korea
Summit in Vancouver planned to pressure reclusive nation ‘to give up their weapons’
OTTAWA— Canada and the United States will co-host an international meeting on the North Korea crisis next month to turn up pressure on the reclusive nation and force it to the negotiating table to give up its nuclear ambitions.
The Jan. 16 meeting in Vancouver was confirmed Tuesday as Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland met with her U.S. counterpart, Rex Tillerson.
Tillerson, on his first visit to Ottawa as U.S. Secretary of State, had a half-day of meetings with Freeland that covered Russian aggression in Ukraine, the political crisis in Venezuela, “ethnic cleansing” in Myanmar, Canada-U.S. trade and border issues, and then ended with a sit-down with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The situation in North Korea — and Pyongyang’s continued weapons development and belligerent actions — dominated much of the discussions.
Tillerson said the world seeks to show North Korea a unified message that “we will not accept you as a nuclear weapons nation.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has engaged in increasingly bellicose talk aimed at Washington as his country develops more and more advanced weapons technologies, highlighted by launches of new missiles that could threaten North America.
Tillerson and Freeland each signalled that they remain hopeful of a diplomatic resolution to the heightened tensions and made clear that international pressure, through economic sanctions, will remain and even toughen, to make negotiations happen.
“What’s important for North Korea to know is that this pressure will not abate,” Tillerson told reporters.
“We will not be rolling any of it back. It will only be intensified . . . It will remain in place until they agree to give up their weapons,” Tillerson said.
Freeland said she’s confident that the international pressure will succeed in diplomatic engagement and a “real conversation.”
Next month’s meeting — which Tillerson dubbed as the “Vancouver group” — will involve foreign ministers from the countries that fought in the Korean War along with important regional allies, such as South Korea and Japan.
The countries will be looking at how to put additional pressure on the regime while also preparing for the prospect of talks, Tillerson said.
North Korea dominated the meetings between the two politicians, but Canada made sure that NAFTA was high on the agenda as Tillerson met with the cabinet committee dedicated to Canada-U.S. relations.
With negotiations on a revised deal set to resume in Montreal next month, there are questions whether Washington, which has put several contentious proposals on the table, truly wants a new trilateral trade pact with Canada and the United States.
Canada has sought to counter some of the U.S. positions, such as rules of origin, with “fact-based arguments,” Freeland said.
Tillerson insisted that the U.S. administration is “committed to continue making progress” to modernize the trade deal. He said the U.S. wants a deal that is “fair” to both sides and preserves jobs. “But as the old saying goes, the devil is in the details . . . I think the next several weeks are going to be very important to those discussions,” Tillerson said.
The two also talked about Russian aggression in Ukraine — where Freeland heads for a visit Wednesday — and agreed on the potential for a peacekeeping mission though no other details were offered.