Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein:?
On Saturday August 5th, the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution banning member states from importing North Korean export goods such as minerals and seafood products, and from hiring North Korean laborers. Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley praised the council?s solidarity, saying more days like this one were needed at the United Nations. She also personally thanked China for helping move the resolution from talk to action. The U.S., which had drafted and put forward the resolution, negotiated for more than a month with China over the text and final measures targeting Pyongyang.
?This resolution is the single largest economic sanctions package ever leveled against the North Korean regime,? said Ms. Haley, adding the council had put the country and its leadership ?on notice? and ?what happens next is up to North Korea.?
President Donald Trump?said on Twitter, ?The United Nations Security Council just voted 15-0 to sanction North Korea. China and Russia voted with us. Very big financial impact!?
Both China and Russia urged a return to talks with North Korea and told the Security Council that the U.S. must abandon?its military exercises with South Korea?and dismantle?the missile-defense system in South Korea known as Thaad?because North Korea perceived that as a threat and it undermined the security of the region.
?We stress that additional restrictions cannot be an end to themselves, they need to be a tool to engage in dialogue,? said Russia?s new ambassador to the U.N., Vassily Nebenzia.
The nine-page resolution steps up trade restrictions with Pyongyang by aiming to cut off a third of its $3 billion annual export revenue. It bans North Korea from trading coal, iron, lead, iron and lead ore, and seafood.
The resolution also prohibits countries from hiring North Korean laborers and bans countries from entering or investing into new joint ventures with Pyongyang.
Diplomats and sanctions experts have long warned that export revenues, even remittances from foreign workers, are cycled back to North Korea?s military and nuclear programs.
A Security Council diplomat offered this estimate on North Korea?s foreign revenue earnings in 2017: $295 million from seafood; $251 million from iron and iron ore, and $400 million from coal trade.
North Koreans work in China, Russia and the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf in a variety of businesses ranging from factories to restaurants and nightclubs and are estimated to send home several billion dollars in revenue, a large portion of which the government claims, according to U.N. sanctions experts.
The new resolution restricts North Korea?s technology trade and tightens enforcement of sanctions on North Korean vessels by banning violators from entering ports around the world.
Under the resolution, North Korea?s Foreign Trade Bank, which handles foreign exchange, will be added the U.N.?s sanctions list that freezes the assets of targeted entities.
It remains to be seen whether the new sanctions will deter North Korea?s pursuit of advanced ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons or bring its leader Kim Jong Un to the negotiating table.
North Korea?s economy has managed to stay afloat largely because China, its main trade partner, and Russia and some African nations haven?t fully enforced existing U.N. sanctions. The U.S. Treasury in June sanctioned Chinese entities?primarily banks and shipping companies?and individuals for violating sanctions and conducting trade that contributed to North Korea?s military and nuclear program.
China?s Ambassador Liu Jieyi said his country denounced unilateral sanctions by the U.S. and said action against North Korea must be through the U.N. mechanism. Mr. Liu told the council he welcomed the U.S. position that it wasn?t?seeking regime change in North Korea.
?China has always been firmly opposed to chaos and conflict in the [Korean] peninsula,? Mr. Liu said.
Although China and Russia have pushed for a resumption of the six-party talks with North Korea, disagreement remains on how to bring Washington and Pyongyang to the table. China and Russia have called for a freeze-for-freeze plan under which North Korea would halt any more military or nuclear action and the U.S. would end its military exercises with South Korea.
Full article here:
North Korea Hit by $1 Billion Sanctions After Missile
Farnaz Fassihi
Wall Street Journal
2017-08-5
The UN summary of the resolution reads as follows:
The Security Council today further strengthened its sanctions regime against the Democratic People?s Republic of Korea, condemning in the strongest terms that country?s ballistic missile launches and reaffirming its decision that Pyongyang shall abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.
Unanimously adopting resolution?2371?(2017) under Article?41, Chapter?VII of the United Nations Charter, the 15-nation Council decided that the Democratic People?s Republic of Korea shall not supply, sell or transfer coal, iron, iron ore, seafood, lead and lead ore to other countries.
Expressing concern that Democratic People?s Republic of Korea nationals working abroad were generating foreign export earnings to support the country?s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, it also decided that all Member States shall not increase the total number of work authorizations for such persons in their jurisdictions, unless approved by the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution?1718?(2006).
Through the text, the Council decided that States shall prohibit the opening of new joint ventures or cooperative entities with the Democratic People?s Republic of Korea entities and individuals, or expand existing joint ventures through additional investments.? In addition, it decided that Pyongyang shall not deploy or use chemical weapons and urgently called for it to accede to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and Their Destruction.
Also through the resolution, the Council named nine individuals and four entities to be subject to a travel ban and asset freeze already in place, as well as to request that the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) issue special notices with respect to designated individuals.
In addition, it reaffirmed that its provisions were not intended to have adverse humanitarian consequences for the civilian population of the Democratic People?s Republic of Korea, and that the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution?1718 (2006), on a case-by-case basis, exempt from sanctions those activities that would facilitate the work of international and non?governmental organizations engaged in assistance and relief activities for civilian benefit.
Furthermore, through the text, the Council called for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks between China, Democratic People?s Republic of Korea, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation and the United States towards the goal of a verifiable and peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Speaking after the resolution?s adoption, the representative of the United States said the Council had put the Democratic People?s Republic of Korea?s dictator on notice by increasing the penalty of its ballistic missile activity to a whole new level.? All Member States must do more to put more pressure on that country, she said, adding that the United States would take defensive measures to protect itself and its allies, including through joint military exercises.
China?s representative said that, while today?s resolution had imposed further sanctions, it did not intend to negatively impact such non-military goods as food and humanitarian aid.? Calling on all parties to implement the resolution?s provisions fully and earnestly, he recalled that China and the Russian Federation on 4?July had put forward a road map to resolve the issue through two parallel tracks ? denuclearization and the establishment of a peace mechanism.? Recalling that the United States had recently indicated that it was not pushing for regime change or for the Korean Peninsula?s reunification, he said an escalation of military activities would be detrimental to all countries of the region.
Japan?s delegate said the sheer number and frequency of the Democratic People?s Republic of Korea?s nuclear and ballistic missile tests ?show how unprecedented and unacceptable these provocations are?.? Not only was the quantity outrageous, but the qualitative advancements were alarming.? Noting that today?s resolution would reduce the Democratic People?s Republic of Korea?s revenue by approximately $1?billion, he said all Member States must demonstrate renewed commitment to implement the Council?s decisions.
The Russian Federation?s representative, while calling on the Democratic People?s Republic of Korea to end its banned programmes, said progress would be difficult so long as it perceived a direct threat to its security. ?Emphasizing that military misadventures risked creating a disaster, he said sanctions must be a tool for engaging Pyongyang in constructive talks rather than to seek the country?s economic asphyxiation.
The Republic of Korea?s delegate said that Pyongyang?s missile provocations on 4?and 28?July, together with its nuclear programme, posed a grave threat to international peace and security.? Indeed, such reckless acts of defiance should be met with stronger measures, he said, adding that additional sanctions contained in resolution?2371?(2017) would significantly cut off the inflow of hard currency that would otherwise have been diverted to illicit weapons programmes.
Full article:
Security Council Toughens Sanctions Against Democratic People?s Republic of Korea,?Unanimously Adopting Resolution 2371 (2017)
United Nations Meetings Coverage
2017-08-05
