Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday January 17, 2018
North Korea threatened with more sanctions, isolation at diplomacy summit
North Korea is facing a new warning to change its behaviour or face more sanctions.
The threat was delivered by Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chyrstia Freeland as she opened today’s summit on stability and security in the Korean Peninsula.
“Investing in nuclear weapons will lead only to more sanctions and to perpetual instability on the peninsula,” Freeland said to a room full of diplomats and reporters in Vancouver.
“The pursuit of nuclearization will bring you neither security nor prosperity,” she said.
The message was echoed by allies around the room, including U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is co-host of today’s meeting.
“The pressure campaign will continue until North Korea takes decisive steps to denuclearize,” Tillerson said.
“This is a strategy that has and will require patience, but thanks to everyone’s support at this table, and around the world, the regime is already facing costs that it is having difficulty bearing,” he added.
Freeland and Tillerson are among the foreign ministers and diplomats from 20 countries who have gathered on Canada’s West Coast to discuss paths to diplomacy.
Partners around the table welcomed the recent reopening of talks between North Korea and South Korea, and the North’s participation in the upcoming Winter Olympics.
After nearly two years of silence, officials from both countries sat down for 11 hours of discussions earlier this month. (source: CBC)