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South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (center

After achieving little progress in denuclearization talks with North Korea following its summit with North Korea in Singapore on June 12, the US is seeking to reach a breakthrough in the stalemate by tightening the reins on sanctions against the North. The top diplomats from the US and South Korea appear to be putting pressure on the North by emphasizing that the framework of sanctions against the North should be maintained until the North’s complete denuclearization during a briefing to UN Security Council members on the current state of affairs.

“The countries of the Security Council are united on the need for final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea, as agreed to by Chairman Kim. Strict enforcement of sanctions is critical to our achieving this goal,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a press conference after he and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha delivered a joint briefing to the members of the UN Security Council on July 20.

“Members of the UN Security Council, and by extension all UN member-states, have unanimously agreed to fully enforce sanctions on North Korea, and we expect them to continue to honor those commitments,” Pompeo added. “When sanctions are not enforced, the prospects for the successful denuclearization are diminished.”

With denuclearization talks at a standstill, Pompeo’s remarks appear aimed at nipping in the bud indications that China and Russia may relax sanctions and at strengthening the US’s bargaining position in its negotiations with North Korea.

Particularly striking was the fact that Pompeo emphasized that sanctions against North Korea are being implemented across the board while rattling off specific examples of North Korea’s violations of the sanctions. “Right now, North Korea is illegally smuggling petroleum products into the country at a level that far exceeds the quotas established by the United Nations. These illegal ship-to-ship transfers are the most prominent means by which this is happening,” he said.

“These transfers happened at least 89 times in the first five months of this year and they continue to occur. The United States reminds every UN member-state of its responsibility to stop illegal ship-to-ship transfers, and we urge them to step up their enforcement efforts as well.”

“So the US put yesterday a halt to all additional refined petroleum shipments to North Korea. China and Russia blocked it,” said US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, who participated in the joint press conference with Pompeo. “We put pressure today on China and Russia to abide and be good helpers through this situation.”

This constituted criticism of the Russian delegation to the UN for asking for time to investigate allegations brought by the US that North Korea was smuggling refined petroleum products.

Pompeo also mentioned “the smuggling of coal by sea, smuggling by overland borders, and the presence of North Korean guest workers in certain countries.”

“North Korean cyber thefts and other criminal activities are also generating significant revenues for the regime, and they must be stopped,” he said.

While emphasizing that US President Donald Trump is still “upbeat about the chances of the North’s denuclearization, Pompeo reiterated that “full enforcement of sanctions” is necessary for North Korea to become a “friend” of the UN.

When Pompeo was asked what concrete steps North Korea should take to show its commitment to denuclearization, he said, “It’s really pretty straightforward.”

“Chairman Kim told not only President Trump, but President Moon that he was prepared to denuclearize. The scope and scale of that [denuclearization] is agreed to. The North Koreans understand what that means,” Pompeo said.

“We need to see Chairman Kim do what he promised the world he would do.”

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, who met with Pompeo before the joint briefing, stated that she shares Pompeo’s position about maintaining sanctions on North Korea.

“The international community needs to speak with one voice in order to push North Korea to take concrete action until [the North’s] complete denuclearization takes place. We’re in agreement that the sanctions must be maintained until that happens,” Kang said during a meeting with South Korean correspondents in New York on the day she met Pompeo

The Trump administration has maintained that sanctions should be kept in place while it engages in dialogue aimed at the goal of North Korea’s denuclearization. Even though Trump stated his intention to tentatively suspend the US’s joint military exercises with South Korea during a press conference shortly after the Singapore summit, he made clear that he has no intention of easing sanctions against North Korea until it takes concrete action toward denuclearization. But considering that US administration officials refrained from using expressions like “maximum pressure” for some time while continuing dialogue with the North, Pompeo’s remarks are assumed to have been carefully calculated.

Inside the diplomatic community, rumor has it that frustration and dissatisfaction about the lack of progress in the denuclearization talks is bubbling up inside the Trump administration. Indeed, US newspapers quoted government officials in July 21 reports as saying that Trump was privately showing disappointment and nervousness about the denuclearization negotiations.

Multiple analysts believe that Trump has been forced to face reality since the actual negotiations began. Though he has recently made public statements designed to moderate expectations – such as that there’s no timeframe for denuclearization and that the negotiations are moving forward – it’s unclear when he will run out of patience, they say.

“Last year, the US focused on sanctions, and the Singapore summit this year caused it to focus on dialogue. But right now, it’s in the middle of creating realistic and meticulous conditions for negotiations that can move the denuclearization talks forward,” said a South Korean government official who is familiar with North Korea-US relations. The US’s reaffirmation of sanctions against the North in its briefing of the UN Security Council members can be understood in the same context.

“The point is that these sanctions are the US’s strongest leverage, and it’s not going to ease them before the negotiations even begin. The US is taking steps to squash a recent trend toward easing sanctions,” said another senior government official.

“The US believes that the area in which it can currently manage North Korea is connected to the area that Kim Jong-un has made the strongest demands about, or in other words sanctions against the North. Therefore, the US’s plan is to pressure the North by maintaining or even strengthening the existing sanctions in the hope of pushing it toward denuclearization,” said Cho Sung-ryul, senior researcher for the Institute for National Security Strategy.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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