Thai PM says no trade with North Korea, ahead of U.S. envoy's visit

[snoop1130]

Thai PM says no trade with North Korea, ahead of U.S. envoy's visit

 

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha attends the opening session of the 20th ASEAN-JAPAN Summit in Manila, Philippines November 13, 2017. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - No trade takes place between Thailand and North Korea, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Tuesday, ahead of an expected visit by a U.S. envoy seeking to step up pressure on North Korea over its weapons programmes.

 

The United States has been urging Southeast Asian countries to do more to cut funding streams for North Korea as tension mounts over its development of nuclear weapons and missiles to carry them as far as the United States.

 

"Thailand guarantees ... that we have abided by the United Nations resolutions," Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters at his official Government House offices.

 

"There have been reports about North Korean boats in our waters ... I prohibited them a long time ago. There is no trade ... there is no commerce," he said.

 

Joseph Yun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, is due in Bangkok this week to discuss stepping up pressure on North Korea which has been pressing ahead with its weapons tests in defiance of U.N. resolutions and sanctions.

 

During a visit to Bangkok in August, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pressed Thailand, the United States' oldest ally in Asia, for more action on North Korea.

 

At the time, the United States said it believed North Korean companies were active in Thailand and said it was encouraging the Thailand to close them.

 

Following Tillerson's visit, Thailand's foreign ministry said trade with North Korea had dropped by as much as 94 percent over the previous year. It did not give any more detail.

 

North Korea tested its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile late last month.

 

The U.N. Security Council is due to hold a ministerial meeting on North Korea's nuclear and missiles programmes on Friday.

 

(Reporting by Aukkarapon Niyomyat; Writing by Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Robert Birsel)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-12-12

[Srikcir]

2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

There is no trade ... there is no commerce,"

“As a result of our strict compliance, our trade with North Korea declined by 94 percent after U.N. sanctions took place, when comparing the first half of last year and this year,” ..." Trade between Thailand and North Korea was worth U.S. $900,000 in January to June 2017 versus $16.4 million in the same period of 2016" - Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai

http://www.benarnews.org/english/news/thai/thailand-pyongyang-08082017175920.html

If true (and maybe US Secretary of State knows for sure), then Thailand has virtually stopped trade with North Korea. But as pointed out in the above link, the US believes that North Korean front companies are actively operating in Thailand, and U.S. officials are urging Bangkok to shut them down.

[BuaBS]

Send them some rice & corn . Thailand has too much rubber & palmoil , help your fellow Asians and send it to NK. US should not be pressuring other countries to comply with sanctions.

[Media1]

They would sell there mothers 

[Media1]

1 hour ago, BuaBS said:

Send them some rice & corn . Thailand has too much rubber & palmoil , help your fellow Asians and send it to NK. US should not be pressuring other countries to comply with sanctions.

Yes They should. What planet are you on. Kim is a lunatic

[wakeupplease]

3 hours ago, Media1 said:

Yes They should. What planet are you on. Kim is a lunatic

Hi, your right and this one here is not far off it. Is he getting fatter in the face these days? looks it to me. Down to the booze maybe.

[Stargeezr]

Good or Thailand.  It is a shame that NK still has trade with Russia and China,

but those countries are all about the Money!

Geezer

[webfact]

US envoy to visit Bangkok to discuss N Korea nuclear row

By WASAMON AUDJARINT 
THE NATION

 

Deputy Foreign Minister Veerasak Futrakul

 

THE US special envoy for North Korea will probably meet Deputy Foreign Minister Veerasak Futrakul late this week to discuss denuclearisation, amid escalated tensions in the Korean Peninsula, according to diplomatic sources yesterday.

 

The US Embassy in Bangkok confirmed that Joseph Yun, special representative for North Korea policy, will visit Thailand tomorrow and Friday to add weight to the US campaign against North Korea’s latest missile test.

 

Yun’s agenda while in Bangkok is not officially settled. It is not known who he will meet besides Veerasak.

 

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday did not directly mention Yun’s visit but reiterated that Thailand always follows United Nations Security Council resolutions.

 

“There has been no selling, no buying and no trading to the point that we can barely move,” Prayut said during his weekly press briefing.

 

His remarks also countered a recent report by a US-based think tank that Thailand is among 20 countries providing assistance for North Korean shipments. 

 

A source at the Commerce Ministry, meanwhile, said Thailand had strictly followed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution on North Korea and if the US requested Thailand to impose sanctions beyond the UNSC resolution there needs to be further approval by the Thai government.

 

Released last Tuesday, a report from the Institute for Science and International Security says that 49 countries were found to commit acts in violation of sanctions designated in the UNSC resolutions.

 

Denying the report, Prayut stressed that Thailand has long ago stopped any North Korean shipments from landing in the Kingdom.Thailand had maintained a 45-year tie with North Korea but has toned it down following the Asean consensus to abide by the UNSC resolutions.

 

While restaurants operated by the North Korean government were functioning in Bangkok earlier this year, the trade value for the first nine months of this year is down to Bt52 million, a 94-per cent drop year-on-year.

 

The US has campaigned actively and aggressively for sanctions against North Korea.Announcing a series of successes on nuclear developments this year, North Korea recently tested a Hwasong-15, an advanced version of the intercontinental ballistic missile it launched in July. 

 

AFP reported that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met Prayut in Bangkok in August. Tillerson’s goal was to push Thailand to shut down all North Korean business operations in Thailand and tone down diplomatic ties as much as possible.

 

At a meeting between Donald Trump and Prayut in October, the US president encouraged Thailand, as a regional Asia-Pacific country, to be firm against North Korea.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30333796

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-12-13

[SheepLover]

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.statista.com/chart/12184/49-countries-have-violated-sanctions-on-north-korea/

[Ricardo]

8 hours ago, BuaBS said:

Send them some rice & corn . Thailand has too much rubber & palmoil , help your fellow Asians and send it to NK. US should not be pressuring other countries to comply with sanctions.

Not even when they're United Nations' sanctions, not just US ones ?

 

And when Thailand & its people are also within range of their "fellow Asians" ballistic-rockets & nuclear-weapons, and are therefore threatened by them, too ?

 

North Korea's leadership needs to understand that its actions are harming its relations with the rest of the region, and that its people are suffering because of their own actions, wishing to prolong or resurrect a war which ended (in all but name) fifty years ago !  Time for NK's people & leadership to move on, and join the modern-world !

 

 

[Srikcir]

9 hours ago, BuaBS said:

US should not be pressuring other countries to comply with sanctions.

Maybe you missed this but North Korea's most dependable ally China not only supported UN sanctions as one of the five Permanent Security Council members, but in actions:

• Closed all traffic across Friendship Bridge
• Stopped purchase of North Korean coal
• Closed North Korean businesses in China
• Significantly reduced oil and other energy supply exports to North Korea
• Banned textile exports to North Korea

On the other hand China has increased its export of overstocked corn and rice (Thailand needn't bother). While criticized by other nations supporting the sanctions, I find nothing in the sanctions that includes a food export ban to North Korea (maybe in the near future?). It's hard to fabricate, fuel and launch missiles with rice. There have been previous sanctions against North Korean food exports.

Obviously, the US is not alone in using sanctions against North Korea to pressure it to stop its nuclear weapons program. These sanctions have been imposed to deter North Korea without use of military force. Isn't that a noble and humanitarian act?

 

[craigt3365]

11 hours ago, BuaBS said:

Send them some rice & corn . Thailand has too much rubber & palmoil , help your fellow Asians and send it to NK. US should not be pressuring other countries to comply with sanctions.

The entire UN Security Council voted on the sanctions!  And some 40 other countries supported them!  What planet are you from?

[Eric Loh]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

there is no commerce," he said.

Are you sure about that? There are few North Korean restaurants that are owned by the state that proudly display the restaurant names "Pyongyang .....' in Bangkok. 

[Watchful]

6 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Good or Thailand.  It is a shame that NK still has trade with Russia and China, but those countries are all about the Money!

Geezer

No, it's far more complicated than that.  Money is not the issue as NK doesn't have any.

 

China has supported their ally since the end of the Korean War. Now it seems they have little influence over NK as Putin steps in to help his "friends".  It's a double whammy for Putin as he gets to stick it to both the US and China AT THE SAME TIME.

 

One fine mess!  Soon South Korea and Japan will have to develop their own nuclear deterrent.  Then Vietnam, Taiwan, Phillipines and Indonesia will have to follow suit.  Like I said, one fine mess and we can all thank China for supporting this corrupt, morally bankrupt regime.   

[YetAnother]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

to the point that we can barely move,” Prayut said

is there a required course somewhere that thais learn playing the victim ?

[Ricardo]

The BBC is reporting this morning Secretary-of-State Rex Tillerson's latest comment  ...

 

"The US is "ready to talk any time" with North Korea without preconditions, says Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

His statement appeared to shift the US position away from previous demands that North Korea must disarm before any talks can be held.

"Let's just meet and let's talk about the weather if you want," he told a policy forum in Washington DC."

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42333704

 

While both heads-of-state have said some foolish or inflamatory things at-times, there's nothing preventing North Korea's professional-diplomats from sitting-down with their US-counterparts, and talking.

 

Perhaps some poster, who understands the NK point-of-view better, might explain why they're not willing to sit & talk, to defuse the situation ?  And why they continue to develop these dangerous weapons, against the clear wishes of their "fellow Asians" and the whole of the rest of the world, as expressed clearly through the U.N. ?

[samran]

...except that North Korean restaurant near Sukhumvit Soi 25 in Bangkok

[craigt3365]

1 hour ago, Watchful said:

No, it's far more complicated than that.  Money is not the issue as NK doesn't have any.

 

China has supported their ally since the end of the Korean War. Now it seems they have little influence over NK as Putin steps in to help his "friends".  It's a double whammy for Putin as he gets to stick it to both the US and China AT THE SAME TIME.

 

One fine mess!  Soon South Korea and Japan will have to develop their own nuclear deterrent.  Then Vietnam, Taiwan, Phillipines and Indonesia will have to follow suit.  Like I said, one fine mess and we can all thank China for supporting this corrupt, morally bankrupt regime.   

It is about money.  China and 48 other countries are still trading with them.  As a scientist said recently, with no money, they can't buy fuel to fire off rockets.  Sadly, China and 48 other countries are more concerned about money than a safe world.

 

As you say, what a mess!

[Morch]

7 hours ago, SheepLover said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.statista.com/chart/12184/49-countries-have-violated-sanctions-on-north-korea/

 

Worthwhile reading the details in the link provided, there are violations and then there are violations. Varying degrees.

Edited December 13, 2017 by Morch

[lvr181]

"There have been reports about North Korean boats in our waters ... I prohibited them a long time ago."

 

Oh really, his prohibition means it cannot be that Korean boats are in Thai waters? Is the PM god or something? Time for a reality check about the effectiveness of his laws and 'prohibitions'.

 

To be fair he stated there is no trade now between North Korea and Thailand. And after the U.S.Envoy departs? 

[farcanell]

16 hours ago, BuaBS said:

Send them some rice & corn . Thailand has too much rubber & palmoil , help your fellow Asians and send it to NK. US should not be pressuring other countries to comply with sanctions.

In a sense your right... the US should not be pressuring other countries.

 

instead, other countries, that are a part of the UN, should be complying with the UN sanctions, or retire from the UN

 

or alternatively, if that’s to OTT for you, the UN should be the ones pressuring other countries, instead of relying on the US to police world policy (which is an unfair position to put them in)

[farcanell]

2 hours ago, Morch said:

 

Worthwhile reading the details in the link provided, there are violations and then there are violations. Varying degrees.

Isn’t that what the pretty colors on the map (plus attached legend) represent? 

 

[farcanell]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

While restaurants operated by the North Korean government were functioning in Bangkok

I can’t help but wonder how many other foreign governments operate restaurants in Thailand.... And i wonder what they serve up, given past claims by NK officials that NK people’s will eat grass 

 

the sceptic in me would think that these restaurants served a more nefarious purpose. (A baseless and gratuitous comment ?)

[Morch]

7 minutes ago, farcanell said:

Isn’t that what the pretty colors on the map (plus attached legend) represent? 

 

 

No. The "pretty colors" apply a rough categorization: "Military Violations",  "Non-Military Violations". The actual nature of the violations is more varied, some light, some not. 

 

[farcanell]

2 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

No. The "pretty colors" apply a rough categorization: "Military Violations",  "Non-Military Violations". The actual nature of the violations is more varied, some light, some not. 

 

Ah... so the “map” should have more colors involved to demonstrate the true nature of transgressions, so as to not universally condemn.

 

i suppose an example may be nessesary humanitarian aid (acceptable to most... at this stage anyway), which would still be in the orange.

[Morch]

3 minutes ago, farcanell said:

Ah... so the “map” should have more colors involved to demonstrate the true nature of transgressions, so as to not universally condemn.

 

i suppose an example may be nessesary humanitarian aid (acceptable to most... at this stage anyway), which would still be in the orange.

 

Example: Russia, The PRC, Japan and France are all marked similarly as engaged in "non-military violations". I don't think that in effect the respective violation are on the same scale or severity.