US envoy holds talks on North Korea
Joseph Yun praises move to cut trade ties
The US Special Representative for North Korea Policy has praised Thailand for its role in trying to help pressure the reclusive communist state to denuclearise.
Joseph Yun said, he has had a constructive exchange of views with Thai officials after explaining US policy in trying to denuclearise North Korea.
He had separate meetings with the National Security Council secretary-general, Wanlop Rugsanoh, and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Virasakdi Futrakul on Thursday.
“I appealed to both the secretarygeneral and the deputy foreign minister that Thailand as a leader in Southeast Asia with long-time connections on the Korean Peninsula to see whether we can work together,” he said adding that Asean and associate bodies such as its dialogue partners and the Asean Regional Forum have also been very supportive.
“They were open-ended discussions and I appreciate very much and am grateful for what Thailand has done in leading Asean ... in terms of an overall approach to North Korea,” he said.
However, he did not elaborate on what measures or results the US expects to see from Thailand.
“We leave it up to the authorities in the individual country to deal with that,” he said.
Asked whether he had any information about North Korean proxy businesses in Thailand, Mr Yun said, “We looked at the data and there is fortunately no trade as the PM mentioned between North Korea and Thailand.”
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Tuesday said Thailand had cut all trade links with North Korea to comply with a United Nations Security Council resolution over the rogue state’s repeated missile tests.
Thailand’s bilateral trade with North Korea fell to only US$1.5 million (50 million baht) during the first half of this year compared to $19 million in the same period last year.
Trade between the two countries stood at $82 million in 2015 and $50 million last year.
Mr Yun did not say what retaliatory measures the US would take against countries that fail to abide by the UN sanctions on North Korea.
Chulalongkorn University political scientist Surachart Bamrungsuk said the US is trying to show that Thailand is now part of its coalition on the issue of North Korea and its nuclear ambitions.
On what else the US can expect Thailand to do, he said the US may want the country to cease all North Korean business activities in Thailand, which include North Korean restaurants.
Meanwhile, Panitan Wattanayagorn, an adviser to Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, said the US is following up on Thailand’s compliance with the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) resolutions and discussing with security agencies what else Thailand can do to help put pressure on Pyongyang.
“Thailand follows the UNSC resolutions and has cut off trade. But in terms of humanitarian issues or people’s welfare these are another issue.
“Thailand has no reason to cut ties with North Korea, which has an embassy in the kingdom, beyond the framework of the UNSC resolutions,” he said.
He also said that although Mr Yun was only visiting Japan and Thailand on this trip, he had the chance to meet with many Asean diplomats in Thailand.
Mr Yun yesterday emphasised a diplomatic resolution to the nuclear issue, distancing himself from conflicting comments coming from US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Conflicting signals have come from Washington DC this week with Mr Tillerson hinting at a softer stance saying the US was ready to talk to North Korea without preconditions. The White House, however, later said the US stance toward Pyongyang had not changed and there would be no talks if the communist regime continued activities deemed threatening to its neighbours.
BANGKOK: The top US envoy for North Korea said yesterday that “real dialogue” is needed to gauge what Pyongyang wants from its accelerated drive towards nuclear weapons statehood.
Joseph Yun’s comments came after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson created a stir by appearing to open a door to direct talks with the North without preconditions — a major policy shift that the White House swiftly rowed back on.
“It’s very hard to discern what their intent is without, as I said, having a real dialogue,” Mr Yun, the US Special Representative on North Korea policy, said of the reclusive regime.
“We are open to dialogue. And we hope they will agree to have a dialogue,” he told reporters.
It is necessary to exercise both “direct diplomacy as well as sanctions” to rein in the pariah state’s nuclear programme, he added.
Mr Yun is in Bangkok as part of a trip that also included a stop in Japan, as Washington seeks to shore up regional support for its “maximum pressure” campaign in response to Pyongyang’s increasingly powerful nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
Mr Tillerson has driven the global diplomatic effort to stifle the North’s economy through a series of UN sanctions. But the top diplomat appeared to soften his stance earlier this week, saying Washington was ready to negotiate with the North without preconditions, following a “period of calm”.
When asked whether Pyongyang would need to meet any specific or even minimum prerequisites before a dialogue could begin, Mr Yun said:
“My boss’s statement ... addresses that. I think we have to start, and he mentioned we are open to dialogue, and let’s see how they respond.”
China — the North’s sole major ally and economic lifeline — and Russia responded positively to Mr Tillerson’s remarks, even after the White House appeared to undermine his proposal by saying US President Donald Trump’s “views on North Korea have not changed”.
During his first year in office Trump has repeatedly lobbed threats at North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, using fiery rhetoric that clashes with Tillerson’s diplomatic approach.
In October the US president dismissed his Secretary of State’s push for talks with the North.
He tweeted that Mr Tillerson was “wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man” — his favoured epithet for Mr Kim.