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| Mark Field (Image: Wiki Commons) |
SEOUL, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) -- A senior British official said Friday a package of both sanctions and diplomacy is needed to denuclearize North Korea and now is not the right time to have dialogue given the graveness of its threat.
Mark Field, minister for Asia and the Pacific at the U.K. Foreign Office, expressed skepticism toward emerging calls for talks in South Korea, the United States and other key stakeholder nations over Pyongyang's evolving nuclear and missile programs.
"We want to do both things together. Effective sanctions often do bring recalcitrant nations to come forward ... and have rational discussions about their activities going forward," Field told a group of reporters in Seoul.
Field said, however, now may not be the right time for talks with North Korea and the international community may need to adopt further U.N. Security Council resolutions to rein in the North.
"I recognize that we may have to go for further UNSC sanctions at some point in the future," the minister said, adding that the U.S. is "open-minded" about that path.
The minister is on a three-day visit to South Korea as part of his Asian trip. In Seoul, he met with Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam and plans to visit the Demilitarized Zone on Saturday before leaving the country.
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