The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it expects Pyongyang to keep its commitment made at a June leaders’ summit to give up its nuclear arms and would press southeast Asian nations during meetings this week to maintain sanctions against North Korea.
Questions have arisen over Pyongyang’s commitment to denuclearize after U.S. spy satellite material detected renewed activity at the North Korean factory that produced the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of reaching the United States.
The department left open the possibility that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo could meet North Korean officials during meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc in Singapore this weekend.
“We will be in some of the same meetings as North Korean officials. I certainly can’t preclude any interaction taking place, but we have no meetings on the schedule,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters.
Another State Department official, who earlier briefed reporters on Pompeo’s trip to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia this week, said the secretary would remind ASEAN to adhere to sanctions against Pyongyang. There are concerns that fuel is being sold illegally to North Korea despite U.N. sanctions, the official said.
The official said that North Korea will participate in a 27-nation regional ASEAN forum on Saturday that Pompeo will also attend.
“We remain concerned about the scale of North Korea’s illicit procurement, in particular of refined petroleum products via U.N.-prohibited ship-to-ship transfers,” the official said.
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