North Korea appealed to Angola earlier this year to resume their negotiations on bilateral cooperation which have been put on hold for the last 11 years, the African country said in a recent sanctions implementation report submitted to the United Nations.

The report, dated July 25 and posted recently on the website of the United Nations, was Angola's first submission of a formal document on how well the country is implementing a punitive U.N. Security Council resolution against North Korea.

Before the latest implementation report on Resolution 2270 adopted in March, Angola, traditionally close to North Korea, did not submit any implementation feedback for the previous three U.N. resolutions against the communist country.

The sanctions resolution is the toughest-ever action taken by the UNSC to date against the reclusive country, and highlights the international community's resolve after Pyongyang detonated its fourth nuclear device and test fired a long-range missile early this year.

In its first implementation report, Angola said North Korea is eager to resume dialogue with the African country on bilateral collaboration.

"The Angolan executive branch interprets the political statements made by the ambassador of the DPRK in Angola as an appeal to the Angolan authorities to resume negotiations with a view to reconvening the work of the commission for bilateral cooperation between the two states, which has not convened since 2006," the report said.

It was referring to top North Korean envoy to Angola Kim Hyon-il's press statement issued after a meeting with Angola's interior state secretary on March 30. DPRK is the abbreviation of North Korea's full name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The report did not elaborate on whether Angola is positive about the North Korean appeal, only saying that the members of the U.N. sanctions committee on North Korea "may understand the underlying reasons for the absence of meetings to date," despite a cooperative North Korea-Angola agreement signed more than 30 years ago.

The African country also said North Korean diplomat Kim Hyok-chan, who is currently on the U.N. list of targeted individual sanctions, entered Angola in February with a multiple-entry visa.

"It was not necessary to expel any DPRK diplomats from the country, as they did not represent a threat to national security and were not outright affected by any of the previsions of Resolution 2270," it said, suggesting that the country has no plan to expel Kim.

Concerning the UNSC resolution's ban on exports of minerals, natural resources and jet fuel to North Korea, Angola has instructed related ministries to ensure strict compliance, the three-page implementation report said.

Angola's port and airport authorities as well as tax, customs and transport ministries have also been notified of the resolution's requirements of mandatory inspections of ships departing for North Korea and prohibitions of any North Korean ships trying to enter Angola, it said.

The first-ever Angolan implementation report, however, was followed by a North Korean delegation's official visit to the African country days later.

North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency reported on Monday that a foreign ministry delegation led by deputy foreign minister Sin Hong-chol visited Angola before Sin held talks with Angola's secretary for external relations on Aug. 5.

The North Korean report did not provide details about the meeting, only saying that "The (North Korean) republic is walking vigorously toward the dual policy of developing economic and nuclear power together and the banner of building self-reliant power." (Yonhap)