UN slaps new sanctions on NoKor
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — With China’s backing, the UN Security Council on Friday slapped new sanctions on North Korea that will restrict oil supplies vital for Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programs.
The council unanimously adopted a United Statesdrafted resolution that also orders the repatriation of North Korean workers sent abroad to earn revenue for Kim Jong-Un’s regime.
It is the third raft of sanctions imposed on Pyongyang this year and comes as the US and North Korea show no signs they are willing to open talks on ending the crisis on the Korean peninsula.
US President Donald Trump on Friday hailed the move, saying the international community was pushing for peace with the isolated regime.
“The United Nations Security Council just voted 15-0 in favor of additional Sanctions on North Korea. The World wants Peace, not Death!” Trump tweeted.
The resolution bans the supply of nearly 75 percent of refined oil products to North Korea, puts a cap on crude deliveries and orders all North Korean nationals working abroad to be sent back by the end of 2019.
The US put forward the draft text on Thursday following negotiations with China, Pyongyang’s ally and main supplier of oil.
Describing North Korea as “the most tragic example of evil in the modern world,” US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the new sanctions are “a reflection of the international outrage at the Kim regime’s actions.”
The resolution “sends the unambiguous message to Pyongyang that further defiance will invite further punishment and isolation,” she said.
The measures are in response to North Korea’s test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) last Nov. 28 that marked an advance in Pyongyang’s drive to threaten the US mainland with a nuclear strike.
Trump has threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea if it attacks the US while North Korea insists that the world must now accept that it is a nuclear power.
Last month, Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to cut off oil to the North, a move that would cripple its struggling economy.
Crude oil supplies were capped at four million barrels per year and a ceiling of 500,000 barrels of refined petroleum products, including diesel and kerosene, was set for next year, down from two million barrels in a previous resolution.
If North Korea carries out another nuclear or ICBM test, “then the Security Council will take action to restrict further the export to the DPRK of petroleum,” the resolution said, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea.