US President Donald Trump says South Korea would need Washington’s approval to relieve sanctions against North Korea imposed over the 2010 sinking of a South Korean warship.
The sanctions ban all North Korean ships entering South Korean ports and cut off most inter-Korean exchanges, including tourism, trade and aid.
“They won’t do it without our approval. They do nothing without our approval,” Trump told reporters Wednesday, when asked about her comments.
Trump has previously said sanctions will remain in place until North Korea it denuclearizes.
Trump made the comments after South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said on Wednesday that the sanctions, imposed against Pyongyang following a torpedo attack on a corvette that killed 46 South Korean sailors in 2010, were under review.
Kang backtracked on her remarks after facing criticism from some South Korean conservative lawmakers that the sanctions cannot be removed unless…