UN lifts travel ban for North Koreans to Kim-Trump summit

A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) committee has agreed to lift a travel ban on North Korean officials heading to Singapore for the planned summit between United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next month, diplomats said.

Last week, Singapore asked the sanctions committee to grant an exemption to the North Korean delegation attending the June 12 summit and taking part in preparatory meetings, according to the request seen by AFP.

“This summit will serve as an opportunity to advance the objective of a peaceful resolution of the DPRK nuclear issue and the establishment of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the region,” wrote Singapore’s UN Ambassador Burhan Gafoor to the committee.

The letter did not specify the size of the delegation from Pyongyang.

The UN sanctions blacklist for North Korea has 80 individuals and 75 entities which are subject to a global travel ban and an assets freeze.

The request for the blanket exemption to the global travel plan was approved on Wednesday after none of the council members raised objections.

Trump earlier said the fate of the summit will be decided next week as his aides traveled to Singapore to prepare the meeting and push for certain conditions to be met.

“There are certain conditions we want to happen. I think we’ll get those conditions. And if we don’t, we won’t have the meeting,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday.

The UNSC has imposed tough sanctions on North Korea that ban trade in commodities, and severely restrict deliveries of oil vital to Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear program.   /kga