The United States and key Asian
allies are preparing to expand interceptions of ships suspected of violating
sanctions on North Korea.
Officials say the plan could
include deploying U.S. Coast Guard forces to stop and search vessels in
Asia-Pacific waters.
They said Washington has been
talking to regional partners, including Japan, South Korea, Australia and
Singapore, about coordinating a stepped-up crackdown that would go further in
an attempt to squeeze Pyongyang’s use of seagoing trade to feed its nuclear
missile programme.
Pyongyang has warned that it
would consider a blockade an act of war.
The officials said the US-led
initiative, which has not been previously reported, shows Washington’s
increasing urgency to force North Korea into negotiations over the abandonment
of its weapons programmes.
They said North Korea may be only
a few months away from completing development of a nuclear-tipped missile
capable of hitting the U.S. mainland, in spite of existing international
sanctions that, at times, have been sidestepped by smuggling and ship-to-ship
transfers at sea of banned goods.
“There is no doubt we all have to
do more, short of direct military action, to show (North Korean leader) Kim
Jong Un we mean business,” said a senior administration official told Reuters.
On Friday, Washington on Friday
slammed sanctions on dozens more companies and vessels linked to North Korean
shipping trade and urged the UN to blacklist a list of entities, a move it said
was aimed at shutting down North Korea’s illicit maritime smuggling activities
to obtain oil and sell coal.
Tighter sanctions plus a more
assertive approach at sea could dial up tensions at a time when fragile
diplomacy between North and South Korea has gained momentum.
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