US to turn up pressure on N Korea
CANADA: United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the US will not stop joint military exercises with South Korea in exchange for North Korea freezing its nuclear weapons programme, and has promised to keep squeezing Pyongyang economically and diplomatically until it abandons its quest.
‘‘We must increase the costs of the regime’s behaviour to the point that North Korea comes to the table for credible negotiations,’’ Tillerson said yesterday at the opening of a summit of 20 nations discussing ways to tighten economic sanctions against North Korea.
‘‘The object of negotiations, if and when we get there, is the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of North Korea.’’
Tillerson appeared with a map showing air traffic across Asia on one day. Hundreds of yellow icons on the map represented planes, which the US Federal Aviation Administration calculated held more than 150,000 seats, within range of the missiles.
‘‘Based on its past recklessness,’’ Tillerson said, ‘‘we cannot expect North Korea to have any regard for what might get in the way of one of its missiles, or parts of a missile breaking apart.’’
The Vancouver summit was called to explore ways to tighten sanctions against North Korea and discuss maritime indiction of ships carrying material to and from the country. United Nations sanctions allow countries to impound ships believed to be involved in helping North Korean smuggling. The US wants to gather support for a blacklist of those ships worldwide.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha welcomed North Korea’s participation in the upcoming Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. However, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono cautioned against being misled by North Korea’s talks with the South, which he depicted as part of a campaign to achieve sanctions relief.
The summit highlights Tillerson’s efforts to use diplomacy to reduce tensions with North Korea over its nuclear weapons, which leader Kim Jong-un has boasted are capable of hitting anywhere in the US.
Tillerson has insisted that a diplomatic solution is possible, but he said the US would not go along with a proposal to curtail military exercises with South Korea if North Korea stops developing nuclear weapons and missiles.
Two key players were excluded from the summit: China and Russia, which supported the North and now sit on the UN Security Council. Both share a border with North Korea and are crucial to any push to enforce UN sanctions.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the meeting was ‘‘destructive’’, and mocked the list of invitees, some of which are small countries peripherally involved in the standoff with Pyongyang. China has dismissed the summit as ‘‘meaningless’’ and says the solution lies in dialogue with Kim’s regime.