Govt has severed all trade with N Korea, Prayut says

Govt has severed all trade with N Korea, Prayut says

Thailand has cut off all trade with North Korea to comply with a United Nations Security Council resolution over the rogue state's repeated missile tests, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha says.

He said the nation has banned North Korean ships from docking at Thai ports and commodities trading has ceased, including coal.

"Thailand is following the UN resolution and we are not doing this alone but rather with Asean members. We are not the leading actor, this is the resolve of Asean," he said.

The premier was speaking ahead of a two-day visit to Bangkok by Joseph Yun, the US special representative for North Korea policy, starting tomorrow.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Don Pramudwinai said Mr Yun will exchange ideas on policies relating to tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Thailand has in the past served as a facilitator for US-North Korean talks.

US embassy spokeswoman Jillian Bonnardeaux said Mr Yun will meet local officials from various agencies in the Thai capital.

The US Department of State released a media note on Friday saying Mr Yun will travel to Japan and Thailand from Monday "to discuss ways to strengthen the pressure campaign following the DPRK's latest ballistic missile test".

Washington hopes to see the DPRK "return to credible talks on denuclearisation", it added.

Tensions have risen markedly in recent months over North Korea's development of nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the US mainland. It has done this in defiance of several rounds of UN sanctions.

Last week's missile test prompted a warning from Washington that North Korea's leadership would be "utterly destroyed" if war were to break out.

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