Canada toughens sanctions on North Korea

Posted on Thursday, October 28, 2010 1:22PM EDT7 comments

Canada is drafting “tough” new sanctions against North Korea in direct retaliation for its sinking of a South Korean warship earlier this year, the Harper government said Thursday.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Ottawa is also downgrading its already-limited diplomatic relations with the rogue nuclear state.

Mr. Cannon said the sanctions will prohibit imports and exports to North Korea, with certain humanitarian exceptions.

Earlier this year, Canada announced stiffer restrictions on trade, investment and other bilateral relations with the communist dictatorship – as well as suspending high-level visits by its officials.

Those measures followed the sinking of the Cheonan, a South Korean navy ship, which killed 46 sailors.

Three experts from the Canadian navy joined the multinational team that investigated the incident, and concluded the warship was sunk by a North Korean torpedo.

“They went out deliberately and they sank a South Korean ship with a torpedo,” Mr. Cannon said Thursday. “We had three Canadian investigators part of that. They determined beyond any reasonable doubt that this was an act of aggression and therefore Canada is taking retaliatory measures.”

The Foreign Affairs Minister conceded that Canada's level of interaction with North Korea is already quite low.

But he said Canada's actions are important because they are based on a “position of principle” – a common refrain from the Harper government after its historic failure to win a temporary United Nations Security Council earlier this month.

“The impact is, of course, an impact we will see down the line. But it's extremely important that as a member of the world community we all act together.”

Mr. Cannon said Canada does not want its action in any way to be seen as targeting the North Korean people, some of the poorest and most downtrodden in the world.

He said Canada already delivers about $6-million worth of food aid to North Korea through the UN World Food Program.

As part of its new diplomatic crackdown, Canada is implementing a “controlled engagement policy” that will limit bilateral contact on four issues: regional security, human rights, North-South Korean issues and consular cases.

View the original article here