WASHINGTON -- The United States has been delaying the United Nations' approval of certain humanitarian aid to North Korea, Reuters reported Thursday.
Citing documents obtained from a UN committee handling sanctions on North Korea, the news agency said the US has repeatedly asked for more time to consider the proposed aid to the impoverished nation.
North Korea is under a wide array of economic sanctions for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, and delivery of humanitarian aid often requires a waiver from the UN committee.
(IFRC)
Reuters said US deliberations have delayed the approval of a request from a US-based charity in September and separate August requests from a group based in Ireland and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The committee makes decisions by consensus among the 15 member states of the UN Security Council.
Washington has refused to ease sanctions on Pyongyang until the regime fully and verifiably dismantles its nuclear program.
To continue negotiations on the issue and plan a second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the two sides had agreed to hold a meeting between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a top aide to Kim in New York on Thursday.
But the meeting was abruptly postponed Wednesday due to what the US said were scheduling issues.
Trump said Wednesday that he still expects to meet Kim again early next year and that he was in "no rush" to denuclearize the regime as the sanctions remained on.
Trump and Kim held their first summit in Singapore in June and agreed to work toward "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees from the US. (Yonhap)
