AIRLINK 200.02 Increased By ▲ 6.46 (3.34%)
BOP 10.23 Increased By ▲ 0.28 (2.81%)
CNERGY 7.83 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-1.26%)
FCCL 40.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.65 (-1.6%)
FFL 16.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.36%)
FLYNG 26.50 Decreased By ▼ -1.25 (-4.5%)
HUBC 132.79 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (0.16%)
HUMNL 13.99 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.72%)
KEL 4.67 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (1.52%)
KOSM 6.57 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.76%)
MLCF 46.66 Decreased By ▼ -0.94 (-1.97%)
OGDC 211.89 Decreased By ▼ -2.02 (-0.94%)
PACE 6.89 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.58%)
PAEL 41.34 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.24%)
PIAHCLA 17.02 Decreased By ▼ -0.13 (-0.76%)
PIBTL 8.13 Decreased By ▼ -0.28 (-3.33%)
POWER 9.37 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-2.8%)
PPL 181.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.90 (-0.49%)
PRL 41.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.36 (-0.86%)
PTC 24.69 Decreased By ▼ -0.21 (-0.84%)
SEARL 112.25 Increased By ▲ 5.41 (5.06%)
SILK 1.00 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (1.01%)
SSGC 44.00 Increased By ▲ 3.90 (9.73%)
SYM 19.18 Increased By ▲ 1.71 (9.79%)
TELE 8.91 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.79%)
TPLP 12.90 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (1.18%)
TRG 67.40 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (0.67%)
WAVESAPP 11.45 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.06%)
WTL 1.78 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.56%)
YOUW 4.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-1.72%)
BR100 12,170 Increased By 125.6 (1.04%)
BR30 36,589 Increased By 8.6 (0.02%)
KSE100 114,880 Increased By 842.7 (0.74%)
KSE30 36,125 Increased By 330.6 (0.92%)

North Korea will not get any sanctions relief until it has demonstrated "irreversible" steps to denuclearisation, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Sunday. Speaking at a security conference in Singapore ahead of a planned summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Mattis said it is vital that the international community keeps UN Security Council sanctions in place for now.
"North Korea will receive relief only when it demonstrates verifiable and irreversible steps to denuclearisation," Mattis said during public remarks at a meeting with the South Korean and Japanese defence ministers. "In this moment we are steadfastly committed to strengthening even further our defence cooperation as the best means to preserving the peace."
South Korean Defence Minister Song Young-moo said that given recent developments in North Korea, "one can be cautiously optimistic as we go forward". Mattis has tended to stay away from commenting publicly on the upcoming summit, which Trump has confirmed will take place in Singapore on June 12, and instead deferred to the State Department.
The key task ahead of the summit is to settle the agenda. The main stumbling block is likely to be the concept of "denuclearisation" - both sides say they are in favour of it, but there is a yawning gap between their definitions. Washington wants North Korea to quickly give up all its nuclear weapons in a verifiable way in return for sanctions and economic relief.
But analysts say North Korea will be unwilling to cede its nuclear deterrent unless it is given security guarantees that the US will not try to topple the regime. "We can anticipate at best a bumpy road to the negotiations," Mattis said. "As defence ministers we must maintain a strong collaborative defensive stance so we enable our diplomats to negotiate from a calm position of strength in this critical time."

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2018

Comments

Comments are closed.