Goldberg in Singapore, Thailand

Singapore – The US coordinator for North Korea sanctions on Thursday praised an unprecedented agreement and intensity in the international community to enforce the UN measures against the Stalinist regime in Pyongyang after its nuclear tests in May.

‘That’s something new about this, that there is an intensity and agreement internationally, regionally, … that this is an essential part of our overall effort,’ Ambassador Philip Goldberg said in Singapore, his first stop on a tour through Asia.

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‘But it’s still fairly early,’ Goldberg added. ‘We are now only two months in the latest resolution.’

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Goldberg is heading a US interagency delegation to Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and Japan to talk about implementing the sanctions.

He reiterated that the US was willing to hold bilateral talks with Pyongyang.

‘What we want to do is to get back to the six-party process, but we do not exclude bilateral discussions within that context,’ Goldberg said.

On its tour through Asia, the US delegation was also to discuss an advisory to banks about suspicious financial transactions related to North Korea.

He had been ‘favourably impressed’ by the way the Singapore government
was implementing the resolutions, said Goldberg, adding that ‘some countries are clearly more able than others’ to do so.

Goldberg and his delegation were scheduled to arrive in Bangkok later Thursday. [Monsters and Critics]