Sanctions not a solution: experts
UN Security Council drafts response to latest North Korea missile launch
The possibility of the UN Security Council passing a new round of tough sanctions on North Korea on Friday remains high in response to its latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch, Chinese experts said, stressing that more diplomatic means need to be adopted to realize denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The council was due to vote Friday on a US-drafted resolution that seeks to ban nearly 90 percent of refined petroleum product exports to North Korea by capping them at 500,000 barrels a year and demand the repatriation of North Koreans working aboard within 12 months, Reuters reported on Friday.
The draft also capped crude oil supplies to North Korea at 4 million barrels a year, Reuters reported.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a daily briefing on Friday that considering the severe situation on the Korean Peninsula, all relevant parties should give the highest priority to firmly implementing the UN Security Council’s resolutions and
make efforts to restore negotiations that can solve the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.
“All the discussions, actions and responses made by the UN Security Council should help safeguard the unity and cooperation of the council, promote denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, protect stability and peace in the region, and help solve the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue by political and diplomatic means. China, with a responsible attitude, would like to keep communicating with each party,” Hua said.
“It is highly possible for the 15-member UN Security Council to pass the draft and North Korea will have to face a new round of economic punishment for its latest missile test,” Lü Chao, a research fellow on North Korea with the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday.
“North Korea usually imports 500,000 tons of crude oil from China every year and it has other sources of crude oil and refined petroleum products – imported from other regions or through smuggling,” Lü said, “That the newly drafted sanctions will affect North Korea’s economy as China will firmly implement the sanctions once they are passed and will crack down on smuggling from China.”
Lü also said that the new sanctions would not bring too much damage to people’s livelihoods in North Korea as ordinary North Koreans demand little refined petroleum products.
It needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the US, Britain, France, Russia or China to pass a resolution. If adopted, it will be the 10th resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea since 2006, Reuters reported.
Negotiating table
Aside from economic sanctions, more diplomatic means need to be adopted to persuade North Korea to go back to the negotiating table, Lü said.
The draft resolution repeats previous language by reaffirming the council’s support for the Six-Party Talks and calling for their resumption. The Six-Party Talks on North Korea’s nuclear program stalled in 2008, Reuters reported.
Zhang Huizhi, a professor with Northeast Asian Studies College at Jilin University, told the Global Times on Friday that “the draft sanctions, once passed, would impose huge economic and military pressure on North Korea, but they may also push the country to take more actions to further provoke the international community as it is determined to develop nuclear weapons.”
Zhang said that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is like a deadlock without any signs of tensions easing. China should pay close attention to the situation and make all necessary preparations, she said.
In a bid to further choke North Korea’s external sources of funding, the draft resolution also seeks to ban North Korean exports of food products, machinery, electrical equipment, rare-earths and stone including magnesite and magnesia, wood and vessels, Reuters reported.
It also seeks to allow countries to seize, inspect and freeze any vessel in their ports or territorial waters that they believe to be carrying banned cargo or involved in prohibited activities.