Live
Audio Only
North Korea has been slapped with a new round of sanctions unanimously approved by the United Nations Security Council following its Sept. 3 test of a thermonuclear device.
RELATED:
Germany's Merkel Open to Iran-Style Solution with North Korea, Signaling Break with US
The new measures ban the country's textile imports, prohibit all countries from authorizing new work permits for North Korean nationals and cap imports of crude oil to the country.
The sanctions, while likely to have an impact on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea — as North Korea is officially called — represent a small compromise for the United States. Pyongyang allies China and Russia had threatened to veto the original language proposed by the U.S., urging a diplomatic approach to the crisis while opposing the DPRK's continued violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
The White House had originally called for a complete oil embargo on Pyongyang and threatened that the United States would use “all necessary measures” to enforce the embargo — widely understood as a veiled threat to use military force against foreign-flagged vessels shipping fuel to the DPRK.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un also will not be subject to a travel ban, as the United States demanded. Laborers from the country will also be spared a blanket ban and will be allowed access to work authorization documents provided they are involved in humanitarian assistance work or denuclearization.
But questions remain as to whether this ninth sanctions package imposed on the DPRK by the 15-member Council since 2006 will convince it to curb its weapons and nuclear programs.
Textiles were the country's second-biggest export after coal and other minerals in 2016, totaling US$752 million, according to data from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. Nearly 80 percent of the textile exports went to neighboring China.
RELATED:
North Korea Ambassador Slams Mexico’s Decision to Expel him as ‘Ignorant’
The resolution imposes a ban on condensates and natural gas liquids, a cap of 2 million barrels a year on refined petroleum products, and a cap on crude oil exports to the DPRK at current levels. China supplies most of the country's crude.
A U.S. official, familiar with the council negotiations and speaking on condition of anonymity, said North Korea imports some 4.5 million barrels of refined petroleum products annually and 4 million barrels of crude oil.
Countries will now be asked to inspect ships entering or exiting the DPRK's ports, as has been the case since 2009, but the use of force — as originally demanded by the White House — is no longer a possibility. Those countries where the ships are registered must also consent to the searches, and any violation of said consent by flag states could lead to new disputes.
While the United States may begin imposing its own unilateral measures against Pyongyang, an international consensus is growing around the need to diplomatically engage the country and tamp down the growing military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, which remains locked in a technical state of war since the 1953 armistice in the U.S. War on Korea.
Prior to the vote, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin “agreed that the conflict about North Korea's nuclear armament must be resolved peacefully,” according to a statement from Berlin. On Sunday, an interview with Merkel was published where she proposed that her country could potentially be involved in peace talks.
On Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron followed up a phone conversation with a call to resolve the crisis through peaceful and diplomatic means.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also last week raised the possibility of involving North and South Korea in joint projects including the construction of new rail links and energy projects, noting that “creating military atmosphere and raising hysteria is counterproductive and will lead nowhere."
Responding, South Korean President Moon Jae-In expressed his appreciation of Russia's support for the cause of building “a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula and improved relations between the two Korean states.”
Pyongyang has warned Washington that the United States would face the “greatest pain and suffering” as a “due price” for leading the sanctions charge.
“Instead of making a right choice based on rational analysis of the overall situation, the U.S. is trying to use the DPRK's legitimate self-defensive measures as an excuse to strangle and completely suffocate it,” the country's foreign ministry said in a statement denouncing Washington's “frantic” moves at the U.N.
“The DPRK is closely following the moves of the U.S. with vigilance,” it added, threatening the “U.S. gangsters” with a tough series of countermeasures.
Newsletter
