How the UN is divided after its first meeting on the North Korea issue

The meeting, attended by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung-wha, aimed to urge North Korea to fully implement its denuclearization commitments before international sanctions against the country are lifted.

At the meeting, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged UN Security Council member countries to maintain tough sanctions against North Korea to pressure the country to abandon its nuclear program.

“The UN Security Council has unanimously agreed on the need for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, with the consent of Chairman Kim Jong-un,” Pompeo said. “Strict enforcement of international sanctions on Pyongyang is critical to achieving this goal.”

Meanwhile, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that in the first five months of 2018, there were 89 violations of sanctions on refined petroleum exports to North Korea. According to Ms. Haley, the US has photographic evidence of these illegal transactions at sea.

At the meeting, top US diplomats called on Russia and China to join in resolving the North Korea issue. The two countries had previously delayed a US request to halt refined oil exports to North Korea, saying they needed to learn more about alleged illegal transactions at sea.

For her part, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha agreed with the US position of maintaining sanctions on North Korea.

However, Ms. Kang also called on the Security Council to be willing to suspend sanctions in specific areas such as telecommunications to help encourage North Korea to move toward nuclear disarmament.

The South Korean Foreign Minister said that the purpose of her and the US Secretary of State's meeting on July 20 was to seek consensus on the latest developments related to the North Korea issue.

According to Ms. Kang, South Korean President Moon Jae-in is expected to visit Pyongyang in the coming months to speed up the process of denuclearization of the peninsula.

Meanwhile, China and Russia have argued that sanctions should be eased in return for Pyongyang engaging in dialogue with the US and halting its missile and nuclear tests.

North Korea has repeatedly affirmed its desire to denuclearize the Korean peninsula with security guarantees and sanctions relief from the international community.

However, in a recent meeting with the US Secretary of State in Pyongyang, the country's Foreign Ministry was not satisfied with the unilateral demands from the US side.

Along with that, on July 21, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the official mouthpiece of the Workers' Party of Korea, published an article criticizing South Korea for not coming up with practical measures to improve inter-Korean relations, despite the two countries having reached the Panmunjom Joint Declaration at the previous inter-Korean summit./.