Washington (September 19, 2017) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), top Democrat on the East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement in response to President Donald Trump’s address today to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
 
“When we should be putting on a full court-press to engage the international community on global challenges like a nuclear-armed North Korea, President Trump wasted the opportunity to emphasize strategic diplomacy at the United Nations General Assembly,” said Senator Markey. “President Trump used his address today to threaten North Korea with complete destruction instead of offering real solutions and uniting the international community behind them. The United States should be building an international consensus to engage Pyongyang in direct negotiations, use sanctions to close North Korea for business, and peacefully freeze and eventually roll back North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs. We must pursue this path immediately by closing off North Korea’s oil imports, ending its use of slave labor to generate cash, and cutting its supply of ballistic missile fuels like UDMH and fuel precursors as soon as possible. These goals are only achievable through sustained diplomacy and engagement with the international community, including China and Russia, not through escalatory rhetoric and bombastic threats.”
 
Senator Markey has long advocated for immediate, direct engagement with North Korea, coupled with tough sanctions, to close North Korea for business and convince it to join the international community in peacefully denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. In August, he led a Congressional delegation to South Korea, Japan, and the North Korea-China border, where it was the first foreign group to receive a briefing from Chinese customs officials who enforce sanctions at the border. Senator Markey has also introduced bipartisan sanctions legislation with Senator Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) targeting North Korea and its enablers.
 

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