BANGKOK: Thailand has drastically reduced trade with North Korea amid mounting international pressure to isolate the pariah state, the government said Thursday, as a senior US envoy arrived for talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear program. During the first nine months of 2017 bilateral trade with North Korea amounted to $1.6 million, a 94 percent decrease from the same period in 2016, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “It’s expected that by late 2017 there will be no export or import of goods between Thailand and North Korea,” said Pimchanok Vonkorpon, director of the Thai Commerce Ministry’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office. But sanctions against North Korea have started to bite. The UN and the US have called on Southeast Asian leaders to do more to sever ties with North Korea.

Source: Manila Times December 14, 2017 10:41 UTC