National Security

Canada Will Contribute To US Fund To Enforce Sanctions Against North Korea

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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Canada will contribute $3.25 million to a U.S. State Department fund to help enforce economic sanctions against North Korea.

The agreement was reached as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland Tuesday as part of a Vancouver summit on the North Korean crisis.

Tillerson repeated U.S. policy by saying that sanctions will continue until North Korea takes “decisive steps” toward ending its nuclear program.

“The pressure campaign will continue until North Korea takes decisive steps to denuclearize,” Tillerson said.

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The fund is meant to assist other counties in their resolve to apply economic sanctions against North Korea.

“Productive negotiations require a credible negotiating partner. North Korea has not yet shown themselves to be that credible partner,” Tillerson said at a press conference Tuesday.

Tillerson and Freeland co-hosted the summit that brought together more than 20 countries — all members of the United Nations coalition that contained North Korean aggression during the Korean War of 1950-53.

Freeland dismissed suggestions that President Donald Trump was aggravating the crisis through provocative language.

“The source of the threat to the international community, the source of the illegal actions, the source of the nuclearization is North Korea,” she told reporters, while painting a dismal picture for that country’s future if it continues to test the patience of the world.

South Korea, the country most directly threatened by a nuclear North Korea, expressed optimism concerning the summit’s resolve, with its foreign minister calling the result “rather productive and positive.”

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