US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Washington’s lead negotiator on North Korean denuclearization, said on Saturday that he believes Russia is violating international sanctions against North Korea.
“I want to remind every nation that has supported these resolutions that this is a serious issue and something that we will discuss with Moscow,” Pompeo told a news conference in Singapore, Reuters reported, “We expect the Russians and all countries to abide by the U.N. Security Council resolutions and enforce sanctions on North Korea.”
Pompeo is in Singapore for meetings of the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as China, Russia, Japan and South Korea. His presence in Singapore follows the promising June summit in the island state between North Korea leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.
However, since that summit, and despite goodwill gestures from Kim, such as the dismantlement of a satellite launch site and the return of apparent US war remains, no mutually-agreed upon denuclearization process has yet started.
Against this background, there have been reports that China and Russia are easing off sanctions pressure.
Is Moscow breaking ranks?
On Thursday, US newspaper the Wall St Journal, citing Russian Interior Ministry records – which the report indicates may have been obtained, and then leaked, by US government officials – wrote that Russia has issued more than 10,000 visas for North Korean workers since the UN Security Council called for governments not to issue new work permits to persons from the heavily sanctioned state.
Many of the companies hiring North Koreans are joint ventures with North Korean bodies, the Journal reported, which would also be a violation of related sanctions.
Pompeo said that he has reason to believe the reports, according to Reuters. Russia has denied the Wall Street Journal report, and has also denied that Moscow was flouting U.N. restrictions on oil supplies to North Korea.
HR has been a key North Korean export for years with many textile and seafood processing factories in northeast China employing North Koreans. North Korean workers have also customarily worked in the Russian Far East in areas such as logging and construction.
According to Russian data cited in the Journal report, most of the North Korean laborers in Russia were working in construction-related fields, such as plastering, masonry, tiling and painting.
Since last year, both Chinese and Russian vessels are believed to have supplied North Korean vessels with fuel shipments on the high seas in defiance of sanctions, though it is not known if these activities had been approved by Beijing and Moscow.
North Korea and the diplomatic merry go round
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho is also attending the Singapore event. Pompeo said he had not met Ri. US Ambassador to Manila, and formerly to Seoul, Sung Kim – a key negotiator on the nuclear issue – said he had no plans to meet the North Koreans in Singapore, according to Reuters.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono told Japanese reporters that he had met Ri on Friday night and had reiterated Japan’s views and basic stances. According to the Asahi newspaper, Kono told Ri that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks a summit with Kim, but did not tell the reporters what Ri’s response was.
Ri also met South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha – but only on the sidelines of the summit at a gala dinner. The two did not engage in formal meetings. According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, Ri had declined official talks, saying that the time was not right.
The formerly isolated and diplomatically reclusive Kim has been engaged in a spate of summits this year. He has has met Trump once, and Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Moon Jae-in twice each. He has also agreed to meet Moon again this autumn.
However, despite invitations issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin, it is not known if Kim will visit Moscow or Vladivostok, for the annual Russian Far East Economic Forum in September. However, North Korean aircraft have recently been spotted in Vladivostok, including Kim’s own official aircraft, according to reports in South Korea.
Moon and Abe are also expected to attend the Vladivostok meeting, raising the possibility of a quadrilateral summit.
Every nation should do what they think is right. Not cave in from pressure from the US. The US firmly believe in bullying, sanctions, and starvation the “enemy”. This strategy has failed so many times, so why not try to be friends, provide jobs and investments.
I just don`t get what is in this for North Korea? The US troops, air and sea battle groups are all sitting just off shore and across the armistis line in South Korea. The threats are still there. The US is acting as though North Korea was it`s dog and they are beating her into submission. The sanctions are still there , even more of them. The Great US is coersing the UN to back them in driving this tiny country into the ground. But only a fool would believe that the US would not bomb this small country back to the stone age if it did give up it`s nuclear deterrant. If for no other reason given the US would want to destroy any possibility of North Korea being able to restart it`s programs, by destroying the infrastructure and killing as many of it`s scientists as possible.
The big question the US should be asking itself is. Why in the world would North Korea even consider doing away with it`s nuclear programs and nuclear missiles so long as the US is giving nothing in return, still threatening , still trying to get the world on side to starve them etc. ? Is this not every single good reason for North Korea to safeguard it`s nuclear weapons?
So far as the UN goes. it has become a rubber stamp for the US Empire and should be scrapped altogether. In any event, China, Russia, Iran, Iraq, Yeman,Syria, North Korea, and all of the countries in South east Asia should just dump the UN. Why should these countries be bound by the dictatorial orders from the US Empire backed by the UN rubber stamping them ? What`s in it for them? Nothing.
I could see North Korea giving up it`s nuclear weapons under one condition and that is if a pac was signed with Russia and China that an attack against that country would be considered an attack on them and that North Korea be put under the Chinese and Russian nuclear umbrella. then if I was Kim I would give the idea serious consideration. But it would be national suiside to give them up under any other conditions. The US is just waiting it`s moment to attack.
So long as USA has not put an end to its invasion of Korea, so long as USA has not removed all its soldiers out of Korea, so long as USA and North Korea have not signed a peace treaty and have not formally declared peace between them, North Korea must continue to improve its nuclear strike force.
As for the sanctions that the UNSC imposés on North Korea, they are illegal and criminal. USA invaded Korea in 1950, USA murdered millions of Koreans, USA destroyed large quantities of infrastructures in Korea, and USA is still occupying part of Korea. The North Koreans are in their country and are defending themselves against the American invaders and murderers. The UNSC is punishing the victim instead of the guilty party. It is the World upside down.
North Korea is not that stupid to give up its nuclear deterrent, nor is it stupid to believe US will ever agree to any let up on any sanctions or withdraw its troops from South Korea. It is just buying time to enhance its missile and other deterrent capabilities, also trying to make South Korea realize why they are the cannon fodder and would be the biggest losers in case of any escalation – as any sane person, Moon has realized that already.
Pompeo should eat less He seems like a fat pork, i think it should weight about 140 kg. This summer i’ve seen him always sweating
At first, Trump and pompous Pompeo blame China for N Korea slow pace in denuclearisation. Now they blame Russia. The US a spoilt small child with a nuclear button lashing out and blame others for its own failures.
Totally agree with Thomas Daniel Kuhn.
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They should change the title to “Pompeo accuses Russia of breaking Galactic empirial law.”