EU seeks to ramp up NK sanctions pressure

STRASBOURG, France (AFP) — The European Union will enforce new U.N. sanctions over North Korea’s nuclear program while pressing ahead with work on fresh measures of its own, the bloc’s diplomatic chief said Tuesday.

The U.N. Security Council on Monday unanimously backed new sanctions against Kim Jong-un’s regime, including restrictions on shipments of oil products, drawing an angry response from Pyongyang.

The move came amid international outrage over the pariah state’s sixth nuclear test — its most powerful to date — earlier this month and its intercontinental ballistic missile launch in July.

EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini told the European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg, France, that ramping up pressure through tighter, better enforced sanctions, was key to forcing the North to negotiate an end to the crisis.

“We now will implement new U.N. sanctions as we have always done before,” Mogherini said. “Second, we will work to make sure all our international partners do the same to ensure the maximum level of efficiency for the economic measures.

“Third, we will continue the discussion we launched last week on additional EU sanctions to complement action decided by the Security Council and put maximum pressure on North Korea.”

After a meeting of the 28 EU foreign ministers in Tallinn last week, Mogherini said work would begin on new measures against the North to add to the broad range of sanctions the bloc already has in place.