US weakens resolution on North Korea to get support
The Trump administration has backed away from some of the most stringent penalties it had sought to impose on North Korea, in an apparent effort to draw Russian and Chinese backing for a new raft of sanctions over the country’s nuclear weapons advances.
A revised draft resolution of the UN Security Council, circulated to members on Monday after negotiations through the weekend, sets a cap on oil exports to North Korea, but does not block them altogether, as President Donald Trump’s administration had originally proposed.
The resolution asks countries around the world to inspect ships going in and out of North Korea’s ports but does not authorize the use of force for ships that do not comply.
The resolution also requires that those inspections be done with the consent of the countries where the ships are registered, which opens the door to violations. The original language proposed by the United States would have empowered US forces to interdict ships suspected of car- rying weapons material or fuel into North Korea and to use “all necessary measures” to enforce compliance.
Nor does the resolution impose a travel ban or asset freeze on the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, as the original US draft had set out. And the new measure dilutes the original language that would have banned the import of North Korean labourers altogether, saying that countries should not provide work authorisation papers unless necessary for humanitarian assistance or denuclearization. The weakened language was a nod to Russia, a big user of imported North Korean labor.
The Security Council was set to vote on the new sanctions resolution on Monday.
Any measure needs at least nine out of 15 votes on the Council to be adopted, and no vetoes. Both Russia and China, as permanent members, wield veto power. NYT