On Monday 14 August, following an extraordinary meeting of several hours on the same day of the political and security committee (Cops), the High Representative of the EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, announced that the EU and its member states were to step up their diplomatic efforts towards North Korea, as there is “an urgent need for a de-escalation of tensions on the situation on the Korean Peninsula”.
The tension, which was ramped up in early August due, amongst other things, to statements made by the North Korean and American presidents, has abated in recent days.
In a statement, Mogherini explains that the representatives of the member states had agreed at the Cops meeting, which was called following discussions between the High Representative and key regional and international players at the regional forum of ASEAN on 7 August, “that the European Union and its member states will strengthen their diplomatic work”. This will involve reaching out to the Republic of Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan, as well as North Korea, to convey their messages, Mogherini said, stressing that “maintaining the unity of the international community (…) is essential”.
Mogherini reiterated the EU’s support for the diplomatic efforts made with its partners aiming at the “de-escalation of the situation and achieving the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula through peaceful, not military, means”.
According to the High Representative, “no diplomatic efforts must be spared in working to help avoid further escalation and to find a solution to this crisis that is putting into danger not only the overall non-proliferation regime, but also the security of Asia and the world”.
Accordingly, the EU is “ready to support the process towards a credible and meaningful dialogue” with North Korea and the international community, with the Republic of Korea in the lead, the High Representative stressed, reiterating her intention of supporting Seoul in this endeavour by all possible means, “including putting at [its] disposal the technical expertise the EU has developed in negotiating nuclear-related issues”. Mogherini also announced that she was to remain in regular contact with her opposite numbers from the region and beyond.
The foreign affairs ministers previously discussed North Korea at their most recent Council meeting on 17 July (see EUROPE 11831).
EU adopts further sanctions against Pyongyang
In her statement, Mogherini called upon Pyongyang to refrain from any further act of provocation and warned that the EU would consider “further appropriate measures and responses in close consultation with key partners and in line with UN Security Council deliberations”.
On 11 August, the EU tightened up its sanctions against North Korea by transposing the latest sanctions adopted by the Security Council in Resolution 2371, due to uninterrupted North Korean activities in the nuclear and ballistics fields.
Four entities – the state-owned Foreign Trade Bank (FTB), the Korean National Insurance Company (KNIC), the Koryo Credit Development Bank and the Mansudae Overseas Project Group of Companies, which specialises in sending North Korean labour to third countries – and nine individuals have now had their assets frozen and been subjected to a visa ban. With this decision, 62 individuals and 50 entities on the list established by the United Nations are covered by the sanctions against North Korea. 41 individuals and seven entities have also been independently designated by the EU.
The Council will also take the necessary measures rapidly to transpose the other sanctions set out in Resolution 2371, the Council announced in a press release. These include, amongst others, bans on North Korean imports of iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and fish and shellfish, the prohibition of any new joint ventures between foreign and North Korean businesses and a stop to any additional investment in those already in place. The resolution also prevents Pyongyang from increasing its quotas of workers sent abroad. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)