March 19, 2019
Japan Ministry of Defense
1. The UK deployed Royal Navy Frigate MONTROSE for monitoring and surveillance activities against illicit maritime activities including ship-to-ship transfers with North Korean flagged vessels prohibited by United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) in waters surrounding Japan including the East China Sea from the end of February to the beginning of March, following last year’s deployment of Royal Navy Frigate SUTHERLAND (the middle of May), Royal Navy Flagship ALBION (from the middle of May to the beginning of June) and Royal Navy Frigate ARGYLL (the middle of December and the beginning of January 2019) . Japan and the UK cooperated in such activities as information sharing from the perspective of enhancing the effectiveness of the UNSCRs.
2. Japan believes that international community needs to fully implement the relevant UNSCRs while maintaining the solidarity for the realization of North Korea’s dismantlement of all WMDs and ballistic missiles of all ranges in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner. In this regard, Japan welcomes and highly appreciates the monitoring and surveillance activities by the UK. Japan will continue to work closely with all partner countries to ensure effectiveness of the relevant UNSCRs.