Nations mull how to block contraband to N. Korea

OTTAWA— Canada, the United States and other nations will consider whether to start intercepting ships headed to North Korea, in a bid to block illegal shipments to the regime.

Frustrated by how North Korea is able to skirt ever-tightening sanctions and continue its weapons programs, countries meeting next week on the crisis will weigh whether to begin intercepting vessels bound for North Korea to check them for illicit cargo banned under United Nations sanctions.

The issue will be on the agenda Tuesday when Canada and the U.S. jointly host a meeting of foreign ministers in Vancouver to discuss ways to pressure North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, a U.S. State Department official said Thursday.

“We continue to explore all options to enhance maritime security and the ability to interdict maritime traffic, those transporting goods to and from (North Korea) that support the nuclear missile program,” said Brian Hook, director of policy planning for U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

“We will be discussing with our partners and allies the kinds of steps that we can take on maritime interdiction,” Hook told a briefing in Washington. Tillerson and Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Chrystia Freeland, are co-hosting the daylong strategy session.

Hook confirmed that China and Russia — North Korea’s neighbours and arguably the two nations with greatest influence over the regime’s leadership — were not invited to the meeting.

Instead, the guest list is made up of so-called “sending nations” — countries that dispatched troops to the United Nations force during the Korean War more than six decades ago.

Russia and China will be given a “readout” of the meeting after it is over, Hook said.

“This ministerial (meeting) will enhance and strengthen all of the efforts underway . . . China has the same policy goal in terms of ensuring that North Korea does not become a nuclear weapons state,” Hook said.

In a report issued almost a year ago, the UN declared that North Korea was “flouting” sanctions through trade in prohibited goods, with “evasion techniques that are increasing in scale, scope and sophistication.”

Two tests last July revealed that North Korea had missiles capable of reaching the United States.

The border with China is cited as one source of illegal shipments. Hook praised China for doing more to enforce sanctions.

Maritime traffic to North Korea is another, prompting talk of high-seas interceptions.

If Canada and its allies decide to take this step, it could see the deployment of Canadian warships to the front lines of this global hot spot. Yet North Korea has already warned that it would view such action as a serious provocation, warning through its state media last December that naval interdictions would constitute an “act of war.”

With two long coastlines, there are questions whether such a step would even be effective.