Ambassador Philip Goldberg will be heading for Seoul some time next week as part of a four-country trip aimed at discussing and reviewing progress so far in the implementation of UN resolutions pertaining to North Korean nuclear and conventional weapons proliferation.
Goldberg, officially the U.S.’ coordinator for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1874, will be stopping in Thailand, Singapore, South Korea and Japan, with a trip to China to come later, possibly as soon as the end of August.
The delegation will be an inter-agency affair, with representatives from the U.S. Treasury, Department of Defense and the National Security Council on board.
Speaking at a State Department press conference, Goldberg clearly reasserted the goals of U.S. government efforts; first, to achieve the denuclearization of North Korea through “irreversible steps;” and second, to implement existing UN resolutions as part of ongoing efforts to achieve the first, and principal, goal.
Goldberg explained that he is intending to share ideas and impressions on progress to date with officials from the four nations on the schedule, to review the financial aspects of the resolution, and to share information on specific cases that have occurred since the sanctions were imposed, the most public of which was that of the Kangnam 1, a North Korean freighter suspected of carrying illicit cargo which was forced to return to Nampo on North Korea’s west coast after being tracked by the U.S. Navy en route down the east coast of China in early July.
According to Ambassador Goldberg, Thailand and Singapore are on the agenda by virtue of their key roles in ASEAN (Thailand is the current chair of the organization) and because both are key maritime nations in a region of proliferation concern.
Goldberg commented that he believes sanctions efforts made since UN Resolution 1874 have been effective, stating that the key to that success has been “unity of purpose” on the world stage. However, he refused to be drawn on whether the release of two American journalists from North Korean captivity last week represented a sign that North Korea wished to return to the negotiating table at this point.
