North korea: the United States and Canada are calling for a summit on January 16 in Vancouver

AFP
Asked by chrystia Freeland and Rex Tillerson

AFP and Maxime Huard

Tuesday, 19 December 2017 18:06

UPDATE
Tuesday, 19 December 2017 18:11

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The us secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and the head of canadian diplomacy asked by chrystia Freeland invited Tuesday, the foreign ministers of countries engaged in the settlement of the crisis over the nuclear issue with North Korea at a meeting on January 16 in Vancouver.

“A diplomatic solution is both essential and possible,” said asked by chrystia Freeland at the end of his meeting in Ottawa with Rex Tillerson.

In Vancouver, said Mr Tillerson, will be “the ministers of foreign Affairs of the member countries of the united Nations Command in Korea, such as France, Australia, the United Kingdom, but also “South Korea, Japan or even Sweden.”

The purpose of this meeting, according to Ms. Freeland, is to deploy “the diplomatic efforts towards a future more peaceful, prosperous and nuclear-free zone in the Korean peninsula”, as well as to show severally “our condemnation of the actions of the Korea of the North”.

In Vancouver, the international community must send a clear message to the Pyongyang regime that the international community will not accept it “not as a nuclear nation and a nation with nuclear weapons,” said Mr. Tillerson.

“We all share a policy and a single aim”, or the “denuclearization complete and verified on the Korean peninsula” as it has been expressed at the security council of the united Nations Friday in New York, he added.

Specifically at this meeting, according to him, the diplomats will discuss on how to “improve the effectiveness” of sanctions against North Korea and consider whether “further steps could be taken to exert additional pressure”.

President Donald Trump “support” diplomatic efforts in this crisis, said the secretary of State, denying any dissent within the executive branch in the u.s. on the nuclear file Korean.

Pyongyang should not expect that the international pressure fades, quite the contrary. “We will only intensify the pressure with the time” until the North koreans “agree to abandon their nuclear program, said Rex Tillerson.

On Tuesday, the United States has demanded the United Nations to ban the docking of ten vessels in ports around the world, suspected of transporting goods in north Korean. If this query was to be accepted by the security Council of the UN, it would have to be added to the latest sanctions adopted this summer.

During their meeting, asked by chrystia Freeland and Rex Tillerson also addressed the difficult renegotiation of the free trade Agreement north american (NAFTA) that links the two countries and Mexico.

The canadian minister stressed the willingness of Canada to “modernize and develop this agreement,” which has benefited all three partners, in terms of jobs.

Many things have changed since the entry into force of the NAFTA in 1993, particularly in the countries with which the three partners have of the trade, ” said Mr. Tillerson. Also, “it is time and timely to modernize (NAFTA)” to the balance of our trade.

The american secretary was due to meet with prime minister Justin Trudeau Tuesday in the evening.

The military option will not be on the table at the top of Vancouver

Only a diplomatic solution will be on the table, has urged the canadian minister of foreign Affairs, asked by chrystia Freeland, on Tuesday evening, apart from the discussions on the military option.

“We firmly believe that a diplomatic approach is necessary, essential, and possible. […] During our meeting in Vancouver, we talk of a (solution) diplomatic,” she said in a press conference in Ottawa, after a day-long meeting with the us secretary of State, Rex Tillerson.

The head of american diplomacy was his first official visit to Canada.

Presented as a demonstration of “international solidarity”, the peak of Vancouver is part of a campaign to pressure North Korea to abandon its nuclear program, said the two counterparts.

“We want to send the following message : we do not accept it as a nuclear nation. We want the denuclearization total, complete and verifiable dismantling of all of the Korean peninsula,” said Mr. Tillerson.

The regime of Kim Jong-A was tested at the end of November a new intercontinental ballistic missile that, according to Pyongyang, met “all of the american continent” in its scope.

After the shooting, the minister Freeland had indicated that they had taken steps in order to welcome his counterparts to discuss the case.

Until now, the event could bring in a dozen nations. The group includes the countries that sent troops during the Korean war in the 50’s, such as the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, as well as other nations such as India or Sweden, thought to be important in the resolution of the conflict.

Washington seems to want to take advantage of the reputation pacifist of Canada to calm the spirits and to make progress in the discussions with North Korea, notes Vincent Boucher, a researcher at the Observatory on the United States of the Raoul Dandurand Chair.

“Canada obviously can not solve alone the north Korean crisis. But it may adopt a role of mediator in the international”, comments the expert. He pointed out that Ottawa had done so by hosting discussions between Cuba and the United States in 2013 and 2014.

The renegotiation of the free trade Agreement of north america, the military situation tense in the east of Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar were also part of the discussions between Mrs. Freeland and the president’s special envoy, Donald Trump.

Before returning to Washington, the latter had to take part in a head-to-head with the prime minister Justin Trudeau.