All Sunday papers wrote that Secretary of State Pompeo met on Friday with the ambassadors of the UN Security Council members and urged them to enforce the existing sanctions resolutions on North Korea in order to achieve its denuclearization. The top U.S. diplomat reportedly said the U.S. hopes that one day North Korea will be at the United Nations “not as a pariah, but as a friend,” but “it will take full enforcement of sanctions for us to get there.” The Secretary’s message was reportedly directed at China and Russia, which have apparently relaxed border controls to allow trade with the DPRK. The papers also highlighted comments by U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who also attended the meeting. “We continue to reiterate we can’t do one thing until we see North Korea respond to their promise to denuclearize,” she said. “We have to see some sort of action. And so, until that action happens, the Security Council is going to hold tight.”
In a related report, Nikkei expressed concern that denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang will become prolonged due to North Korea’s uncompromising posture. The daily opined that North Korea feels no need to compromise based on the assessment that it can obtain concessions from the U.S. such as the easing of economic sanctions and a declaration on ending the Korean War as long as the Trump administration continues to pursue dialogue. A source involved in U.S.-Japan relations reportedly stated: “The nuclear threat posed by North Korea will become more serious since the nation is being given time to improve its nuclear technology.”
Mainichi filed a similar report, noting that the U.S. and the DPRK are engaging in a “war of nerves” over the pace of the denuclearization talks. The paper focused on the lack of concrete achievements toward denuclearization since the historic Singapore summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un on June 20. The daily wrote that the Kim regime appears to be determined to prioritize issuing a declaration on ending the Korean War over taking denuclearization steps.
