State Department Warns Seoul on Violating North Korean Sanctions

Ambassador Harris has already spoke out against President Moon’s idea to restart tourism into North Korea and the State Department has now formally put the Moon administration on notice:

The U.S. State Department said Washington expects every member of the United Nations to abide by North Korean sanctions, apparently objecting to remarks by South Korean President Moon Jae-in that he could use inter-Korean projects to “broaden international support” for a partial sanctions exemption for Pyongyang.

In an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo last Friday in Washington, U.S. State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said it was crucial for all UN members to abide by UN sanctions when asked about Moon’s recent remarks to possibly allow individual tourism to the North.

When the reporter pointed out that individual tours to the North are not subject to current sanctions, Ortagus, without clearly mentioning anything about Moon’s idea, stressed that the Donald Trump administration was hopeful Trump’s special relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would lead to a “diplomatic breakthrough.”

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but this is all part of the Moon administration’s attempt to generate anti-U.S. sentiment prior to April’s legislative elections. Remember the ruling party cannot run on their record because of how poorly the economy and North Korean relations have been. Instead expect the Moon administration to create divisive issues with the U.S. and Japan to drive nationalistic voting in April. They likely hope this this combined with the new election law will be enough to maintain control of the legislature.