BEIJING, June 30 (UPI) -- A visiting U.S. team hopes to get China's cooperation in effectively enforcing the U.N. sanctions against North Korea, South Korean officials said Wednesday.
The delegation, led by Philip Goldberg, coordinator for the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874, left Washington Wednesday for a two-day visit to China, Yonhap reported.
The South Korean officials said the delegation would inform China about the North's illegal activities and how the United States plans to implement the U.N. resolution, Yonhap said.
The officials said the delegation's purpose is to have China review its information and coordinate the implementation of the resolution, instead of asking China to take its own punitive steps to ensure the sanctions are effective enforced. China's cooperation is seen as critical as it is the North's main food and energy supplier, the report said.
"The United States is likely to deliver information on North Korea's illegal and suspected activities to China. It will also brief China in detail on its measures to implement Resolution 1874," Yonhap reported, quoting a senior foreign ministry official. "It is to help China make its own decision."
The U.N. resolution tightened sanctions against North Korea in retaliation for its May 25 nuclear test, its second since 2006, and subsequent missile tests.
The U.S. delegation includes officials from the National Security Council and the departments of treasury and defense.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department froze the assets of Iran's Hong Kong Electronics and North Korea's Namchongang Trading Corp., for alleged involvement in the North's missile proliferation and trading of materials used in its nuclear program.
