US, allies readying effort to expose N.Korean sanctions violations

The US and its allies are ready to launch a new effort to publicly expose North Korean violations of sanctions aimed at curbing its nuclear and missile programs, a media report said.

The plan to "name and shame" Pyongyang comes as negotiations over North Korea's nuclear program appear to have reached a standstill, CNN reported.

A defence official told CNN that North Korea was regularly employing "deceptive tactics to evade UN sanctions".

Earlier on Monday the US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley accused Russia of "cheating" and helping North Korea evade the international sanctions, CNN reported.

US allies Japan, Australia and New Zealand were expected to make announcements about their own monitoring and surveillance efforts in disrupting North Korean smuggling.

Canada, France, South Korea and the UK are also involved in coordinating these efforts, CNN reported.

The new efforts would particularly aim at monitoring of ships performing illicit transfers of refined petroleum to North Korean oil tankers in the East China Sea.

The US has deployed aircraft and surface vessels to detect and disrupt these activities, but has made its actions public until now, perhaps to avoid irritating Pyongyang amid negotiations over its nuclear program.

Meanwhile, Trump has raised the possibility of a second summit with leader Kim Jong-un.

Asked Tuesday about the prospect of increased US military activity to enforce the sanctions, Secretary of Defence James Mattis said: "I generally don't talk about upcoming operations, as you know.

"But we have seen from Japan and Canada, from New Zealand and Australia, they're -- there's a lot of nations contributing to this."

"We'll do whatever we have to do to support the diplomats in the negotiation, and carry out the UN, the international sanctions," he added.

"Russia has been cheating. And now they've been caught," Haley said on Monday during her speech at a UN Security Council meeting.

Her remarks came as the US and its allies ramped up military efforts to monitor and document evidence of sanctions violations.

"The US has evidence of consistent and wide-ranging Russian violations," Haley added.

--IANS

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