EU raises prospect of new sanctions against DPRK

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European Union member countries agreed Monday to consider new sanctions after the DPRK tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile.

Last month, the EU expanded its sanctions blacklist after the DPRK launched a volley of surface-to-ship cruise missiles off its east coast.

The European Council, which groups the 28 EU member states, on Monday condemned the July 4 launch as an “outright violation” of UN Security Council resolutions.

“The Council will consider further appropriate responses in close consultation with key partners and in line with UN Security Council deliberations, notably through additional autonomous restrictive measures,” it said in a statement during talks among EU foreign ministers.

The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EU Federica Mogherini addresses the media following a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on July 17, 2017. /VCG photo

Autonomous restrictive measures amount to sanctions separate from those called for by the UN Security Council.

EU sanctions against the DPRK date back to 2006 and are part of the international efforts to halt a nuclear and ballistic missile program that experts say is intended to give Pyongyang the capability to hit the US mainland.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the foreign ministers are looking to “facilitate a solution that in our view cannot be but a diplomatic and political one.”

The council also said it opposes a military solution to the DPRK problem and kept the door open to dialogue.

The ministers supported South Korea’s diplomatic lead and urged Pyongyang to engage in a “credible and meaningful dialogue” to defuse tensions and denuclearize the peninsula.

The intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 during its test in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), July 5, 2017. /VCG photo

South Korea on Monday offered to hold rare military talks with the DPRK on Friday at the border truce village of Panmunjeom.

(Source: AFP)

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