N Korea: US warns sanctions over fuel
WASHINGTON The US state department has said Washington would not wait to impose sanctions on any shippers helping to get fuel to North Korea, in an apparent warning to Russia days after the US ambassador to the United Nations accused Moscow of cheating on the measures.
North Korea continues to employ tactics to evade UN sanctions, Heather Nauert, the state department spokeswoman, said in a statement, adding that UN member states are required to prohibit ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum fuel to the hermit country.
“The United States will not hesitate to impose sanctions on any individual, entity, or vessel supporting North Korea’s illicit activities, regardless of nationality,” Nauert said on Saturday.
The 15-member UN Security Council has unanimously boosted sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in a bid to choke funding for Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
But the United States and Russia have recently shown cracks in the unity of the council over the sanctions.
Washington has “evidence of consistent and wide-ranging Russian violations” of the sanctions, the US ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said on Monday. Russia was helping North Korea illegally obtain fuel through transfers at sea, and had refused to expel a North Korean whom the Security Council blacklisted last year, she said.