Japan said Tuesday it would allow the North Korean women's football team to visit in February for the East Asian championships, in an exception to sanctions on the communist country. The decision was made "considering it is a sporting event," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano, the top government spokesman. Some state ministers had voiced opposition to their entry, including Hiroshi Nakai, who is in charge of the government's efforts to resolve the issue of Japanese nationals... Read Full Story
BELFAST (Reuters) - The United States will continue working for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula regardless of reports that North Korea launched missiles on Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. The United States and its allies were trying to demonstrate to North Korea that the international community would not accept its continuing nuclear program, she said. "Our goals remain the same. We intend to work toward a nuclear free Korean peninsula," Clinton told a news conference in... Read Full Story
The United States is sending a top diplomatic official on North Korea's nuclear program to Asia next week to discuss the isolated regime with US regional allies. Ambassador Philip Goldberg, the US coordinator for the implementation of recent United Nations sanctions against North Korea, told reporters he will travel to Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and Japan. He will be accompanied by officials from the Pentagon, Treasury Department and National Security Council. "After the discussion at... Read Full Story
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - China says it is committed to enforcing U.N. sanctions against North Korean companies and individuals linked to Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs, a U.S. official said on Thursday. Ambassador Philip Goldberg, U.S. coordinator for implementation of U.N. sanctions against North Korea, told reporters that U.N. member states have voiced "a unity of view, a singleness of purpose in implementing these (sanctions) resolutions." "That's the case, certainly, with our... Read Full Story
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.N. Security Council committee on sanctions against North Korea has agreed on a list of companies, individuals and goods to be targeted, a diplomat present at the meeting said on Thursday. The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was still in progress, said the sanctions targeted five North Korean companies, five North Korean individuals and two weapons-related items. The measure would prohibit companies and nations from doing... Read Full Story
The US chief of naval operations on Monday denounced North Korea's weekend ballistic missile launches and vowed to keep tracking its ships if they are suspected of carrying banned weapons. "I think they were very unhelpful, and clearly counter to the desires of the international community for a peaceful and stable region," Admiral Gary Roughead told reporters after talks with South Korean military officials. He said the US Navy would keep tracking North Korean ships suspected of carrying... Read Full Story
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury said on Tuesday it has targeted an Iranian-based firm for its ties to North Korea's missile proliferation network, a move that bans U.S. companies from dealing with it. Hong Kong Electronics, located in Kish Island, Iran, has been named for transferring millions of dollars of proliferation-related funds to North Korea from Iran. "North Korea uses front companies like Hong Kong Electronics and a range of other deceptive practices to obscure the true... Read Full Story
New UN sanctions intended to force North Korea to abandon its nuclear program will have an "impact" when they take full force, the top US envoy to the United Nations has said. Susan Rice also said the United States was closely monitoring a North Korean ship that Washington suspects of transporting weapons and nuclear know-how in what would be a violation of a UN embargo on Pyongyang's arms sales. "We're pursuing and following the progress of that ship very closely," Rice told CBS television... Read Full Story
New UN sanctions intended to force North Korea to abandon its nuclear program will have an "impact" when they take full force, US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said Sunday. "When this resolution is fully enforced -- not only in terms of potential vessels that may be violating the sanctions but the financial sanctions, the arms embargo, the assets freezes -- this will be a very, very tough package that will have an impact on North Korea," Rice said on US television station CBS... Read Full Story
