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Thai PM says no trade with North Korea,
ahead of U.S. envoy's visit
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 [December 12, 2017]
BANGKOK (Reuters) - No trade takes
place between Thailand and North Korea, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth
Chan-ocha said on Tuesday, ahead of an expected visit by a U.S. envoy
seeking to step up pressure on North Korea over its weapons programs.
The United States has been urging Southeast Asian countries to do more
to cut funding streams for North Korea as tension mounts over its
development of nuclear weapons and missiles to carry them as far as the
United States.
"Thailand guarantees ... that we have abided by the United Nations
resolutions," Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters at his
official Government House offices.
"There have been reports about North Korean boats in our waters ... I
prohibited them a long time ago. There is no trade ... there is no
commerce," he said.
Joseph Yun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, is
due in Bangkok this week to discuss stepping up pressure on North Korea
which has been pressing ahead with its weapons tests in defiance of U.N.
resolutions and sanctions.
During a visit to Bangkok in August, U.S. Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson pressed Thailand, the United States' oldest ally in Asia, for
more action on North Korea.
At the time, the United States said it believed North Korean companies
were active in Thailand and said it was encouraging the Thailand to
close them.
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Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha attends the opening
session of the 20th ASEAN-JAPAN Summit in Manila, Philippines
November 13, 2017. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
Following Tillerson's visit, Thailand's foreign ministry said trade
with North Korea had dropped by as much as 94 percent over the
previous year. It did not give any more detail.
North Korea tested its most powerful intercontinental ballistic
missile late last month.
The U.N. Security Council is due to hold a ministerial meeting on
North Korea's nuclear and missiles programs on Friday.
(Reporting by Aukkarapon Niyomyat; Writing by Patpicha
Tanakasempipat; Editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Robert Birsel)
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