FOREIGN POLICY/MIKE PENCE: “U.S. Vice President Mike Pence urged Latin American countries to sever diplomatic ties with Pyongyang and step up economic sanctions against the North Korean regime in a speech here.
Mr. Pence on Wednesday [8-16-17] urged Chile, Mexico, Peru and Brazil to break off diplomatic and commercial relations with the regime of Kim Jong Un, who this week backed off a threat to attack the U.S. territory of Guam.
Mr. Pence said he had asked Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to reclassify Chilean wine as export luxury goods under current U.S. sanctions, which, he said ‘would prevent North Korea from obtaining these commodities and converting them into hard currency that support the regime.’
Mr. Pence was speaking from the presidential palace of Ms. Bachelet. He arrived Wednesday morning in Chile on the third leg of a six-day Latin American tour.
Chilean trade overall with North Korea is relatively small; Ms. Bachelet didn’t directly address Mr. Pence’s request, saying only that Chile has expressed its opposition to North Korea’s nuclear-weapons development program.”
-Louise Radnofsky, “Pence Urges Latin American Nations to Shun North Korean Regime,” The Wall Street Journal online, Aug 16, 2017 07:04pm