7th Special Report - Rash or Rational? North Korea and the threat it poses: Government Response to the Committee's Fourth Report

This is the government's response, published 13 June 2018.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government welcomes the Committee's report and says it will keep up the international 'maximum pressure campaign' on North Korea until Kim Jong Un matches his words with 'concrete actions' towards denuclearisation.

• On sanctions enforcement and proliferation, it describes working with partners through the UN, the EU and its diplomatic network, including training on counter-proliferation financing and deploying Royal Navy ships to the Asia-Pacific region to assist in maritime enforcement.
• On the Committee's recommendation to spell out deterrence and containment, it does not address that directly; it says it will "keep our strategy and approach under constant review" and remains committed to a denuclearised North Korea.
• On cyber funding, it says the Modernising Defence Programme is "still in the evidence gathering and analysis phase" and that "no investment decisions have been taken", including on cyber capabilities. It does not commit to funding from outside the defence budget.
• On evacuation and amphibious capability, it says its plans are "regularly reviewed and updated" and "not dependant on the availability of a single defence asset". It says "all elements of the force structure remain in scope" at this early stage of the MDP.

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