Senior U. S., South Korean and Japanese officials met on Monday to discuss how better to enforce international sanctions against North…
WASHINGTON —
Senior U. S., South Korean and Japanese officials met on Monday to discuss how better to enforce international sanctions against North Korea’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs.
The Washington talks came shortly after United Nations experts warned that Pyongyang has been flouting existing sanctions, and just as China’s top diplomat held talks at the White House.
U. S. special representative for North Korea policy Joseph Yun met senior Japanese diplomat Kenji Kanasugi and South Korea’s special representative Kim Hong-kyun at the State Department.
In a statement, they condemned the North’s “flagrant disregard for multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibiting its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.”
This, they argued, “requires strong international pressure on the regime” and they called on other countries to “fully and effectively implement their obligations” under U. N. resolutions.
This was a tacit appeal to China, overwhelmingly North Korea’s main trading partner, after a UN experts report last week warned that Pyongyang was getting better at sanctions busting.
Even as the allies met, China’s State Councilor Yang Jiechi was across town at the White House, meeting President Donald Trump’s senior foreign policy advisers.
