Coalition urges funding cuts to ‘grave threat’ North Korea
VANCOUVER— Canada, the U.S. and a coalition of countries are urging a renewed global effort to cut off funding and resources to North Korea, condemned as a “grave and imminent threat,” while warning the regime will face more punishing measures unless it changes course.
Countries gathered for a daylong strategy session here on the North Korean crisis committed to better enforcement of existing sanctions, including new efforts to curb maritime smuggling of illegal goods that have allowed the isolated regime to skirt sanctions.
And top diplomats, who warned against North Korea’s “charm offensive,” laid out a blunt warning to dictator Kim Jong Un to abandon his nuclear weapons ambitions or face further punitive action.
“We cannot stand by and let this threat persist. At stake are the safety and security of all people of the world,” Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said in her opening remarks.
Freeland said that despite recent encouraging talks between North and South Korea, no “true progress” can be made until North Korea “commits to changing course and verifiably and irreversibly abandoning all its weapons of mass destruction.”
After a day of closed-door talks on sanctions, nuclear proliferation and diplomacy, progress was uncertain. Two big actors — China and Russia — had been left out of the deliberations and a wish list of further measures it’s hoped will bring a diplomatic end to the crisis.
Those include improved enforcement of sanctions, maritime interdictions of illegal shipments to North Korea, including unspecified measures to halt ship-to-ship transfers done to skirt inspections, and diplomatic pressure on nations that “lack the political will to implement sanctions.”
“We must increase the cost of the regime’s behaviour to the point that North Korea comes to the table for credible negotiations,” said U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who co-hosted the meeting.
“The object of those negotiations — if and when we get there — is the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea,” he said.
In their statement, the countries said North Korea traffics conventional weapons to raise revenues. But they warned that as sanctions bite, it is likely that North Korea will increasingly turn to state-sponsored criminal activity, including cyber operations.
“North Korean cyberattacks and other malicious cyber activities pose a risk to critical infrastructure in countries around the world and to the global economy,” the statement said.
The gathering was meant, in part, to underscore global resolve to curbing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. But China and Russia, two countries with significant influence over North Korea, were excluded from the discussions. Russia charged that the meeting was “destructive” and a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said Monday it had “no legality and representativeness.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, officials went out of their way, singling out in a statement, the “importance and special responsibility” Russia and China have in a long-term solution.
But diplomats also pointedly nudged the two countries to do more to ensure the “full enforcement” of UN sanctions. “We especially urge Russia and China in this matter ... We cannot abide lapses or sanctions evasions,” Tillerson said.
Boris Johnson, the U.K. foreign secretary, said there was “complete unanimity” among the group in a tougher stand. “That is by continuing to apply economic pressure with a view to achieving a diplomatic solution.”
A spokesperson for Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said Tuesday it was too soon to say what role, if any, the Royal Canadian Navy might play in maritime interdictions. In recent years, the navy has stepped up its presence in Asia with the deployment of frigates for extended tours in recent years.
Tillerson said he doesn’t anticipate a request by the U.S. for Canadian military assistance, noting that most of the maritime interdictions occur in ports.
Earlier Tuesday, Taro Kono, Japan’s foreign minister, urged his counterparts not to be swayed by what he called North Korea’s recent “charm” offensive, noting that Pyongyang continues to forge ahead with its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs.
He warned against any “naïve” moves to “reward” North Korea by easing sanctions or providing assistance, saying the regime wants only to buy time to continue its weapons work.