NATO head
Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday all countries must comply with sanctions on
North Korea as the international community ratchets up pressure on the
reclusive regime following its largest nuclear test to date.
Asked if he
was worried that Russia was resisting stepping up U.N. Security Council
sanctions on North Korea, Stoltenberg told reporters before meeting the
European Union’s defensc ministers:
“There are
already sanctions agreed in the UN and it is extremely important that those
sanctions are fully implemented.”
At the same
time, all 29 member countries’ ambassadors to NATO issued the statement as
world powers sought a common response to North Korea’s sixth and largest
nuclear bomb test, amid fears that more were on their way.
“It is now
imperative that all nations implement more thoroughly and transparently
existing UN sanctions and make further efforts to apply decisive pressure to
convince the DPRK regime to abandon its current threatening and destabilizing
path,” the statement read, referring to North Korea’s official name, the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Efforts to
impose fresh sanctions on Pyongyang at the United Nations have run into
opposition.
Russian
president Vladimir Putin has resisted restrictions on oil exports to the
country, saying the crisis will not be resolved by sanctions.
NATO is not
directly involved in the nuclear crisis, but it has repeatedly called on North
Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
NATO
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said separately he planned to travel to
South Korea and Japan in October.
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/nato-chief-says-states-must-apply-sanctions-north-korea/