Thailand cuts back N. Korean trade to nearly ‘none’: goverment
Bangkok, (MILLAT ONLINE):Thailand has drastically reduced trade with North Korea amid mounting international pressure to isolate the pariah state, the government said Thursday, as a senior US envoy arrived for talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.
The kingdom is one of several Southeast Asian countries to host a North Korean embassy, and once enjoyed valuable economic ties with the reclusive regime.
But the commerce ministry said Thursday trade with Pyongyang had “plunged” and would soon be nonexistent as Thailand complies with UN resolutions to cut off North Korea in response to its increasingly powerful missile and nuclear tests.
“It’s expected that by late 2017 there will be no export or import of goods between Thailand and North Korea,” said Pimchanok Vonkorpon, director of the Thai Commerce Ministry’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office.
The announcement came as US Special Envoy for North Korea policy Joseph Yun arrived in Bangkok for talks with senior Thai officials, according to the US embassy, which declined to provide more details.
Yun’s visit is part of a December 11-15 trip to Asia — including a stop in Japan — “to discuss ways to strengthen the pressure campaign following the DPRK’s latest ballistic missile test,” the US State Department said in an earlier statement, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the North’s official name.
The US remains frustrated that international sanctions on North Korea have not resulted in Pyongyang halting its nuclear and long-range ballistic missile tests.
But sanctions against North Korea have started to bite.