Pompeo: NK sanctions campaign shows US leadership

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talks during a press conference after a NATO Foreign Ministers meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Dec. 4. AFP

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that the international sanctions campaign against North Korea is an example of U.S. leadership in the world.

Speaking in Brussels, the top U.S. diplomat rejected criticism that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is undermining the world order by withdrawing from international organizations and pacts, including the nuclear deal with Iran.

"Under President Trump, we are not abandoning international leadership or our friends in the international system," Pompeo said in a speech at the German Marshall Fund.

"Indeed, quite the contrary," he continued. "Just look, as one example, at the historic number of countries which have gotten on board our pressure campaign against North Korea. No other nation in the world could have rallied dozens of nations, from every corner of the world, to impose sanctions on the regime in Pyongyang."

His remarks come as the North has protested the sanctions regime, contributing to the recent impasse in U.S.-North Korea negotiations to dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

Last year, the U.S. led a series of U.N. Security Council sanctions resolutions punishing the North for its tests of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles. (Yonhap)