Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Former National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said on Tuesday (March 8) that he believed there would be no direct repercussions on the Philippines after it implemented United Nations’ new economic sanctions against North Korea.
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This developed after a North Korean vessel was held by the Philippine Coast Guard off the coast of Subic, Zambales last Friday.
Golez said NoKor would surely receive tougher sanctions from the UN if it resisted the action taken by the Philippines.
“The Philippines is simply doing its duty,” Golez said. “I think we should worry about repercussions if we do not comply with our duty as a member of the UN because it is the bigger group implementing these sanctions and we are only up against North Korea.”
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Meanwhile, foreign policy expert Dr. Renato De Castro said it would be unlikely for NoKor to take any form of retaliation against the Philippines as there was no apparent evidence that the vessel was linked to Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
Amid two major military exercises between South Korea and the United States, De Castro said it would also not do NoKor any good to launch nuclear strikes as it had always threatened to.
He added that NoKor had become a failing state as it could hardly feed its people.
De Castro also held that only the elite in NoKor would be affected by UN’s stricter sanctions — since the rest of the North Korean population was already suffering even before these were imposed.
CNN Philippines’ Camille Abadicio contributed to this report.
