UN Security Council imposes new sanctions on N.Korea over missile test
UN, Dec 23 (Reuters) - The UN Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on N.Korea on Friday for its recent intercontinental ballistic missile test, seeking to limit its access to refined petroleum products and crude oil and its earnings from workers abroad.
The UN resolution seeks to ban nearly 90 percent of refined petroleum exports to N.Korea by capping them at 500,000 barrels a year and, in a last- minute change, demands the repatriation of N. Koreans working abroad within 24 months.
The US-drafted resolution also caps crude oil supplies to N.Korea at 4mn barrels a year and commits the Council to further reductions if it were to conduct another nuclear test or launch another ICBM.
N.Korea on Nov. 29 said it successfully tested a new ICBM that put the US mainland within range of its nuclear weapons.
Tension has been rising over N. Korea's nuclear and missile programmes, which it pursues in defiance of years of UN Security Council resolutions, with bellicose rhetoric coming from both Pyongyang and the White House.
US diplomats have made clear they are seeking a diplomatic solution but proposed the new, tougher sanctions resolution to ratchet up pressure on N. Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The N.Korean mission to the UN did not respond to a request for comment.
Wu Haitao, China's deputy UN ambassador, said tensions on the Korean peninsula risk “spiralling out of control” and he repeated Beijing's call for talks. China's foreign ministry said it hoped all parties would implement the resolution and urged all sides to exercise restraint. It also reiterated a call for what it calls a “dual suspension proposal for the United States and S. Korea to stop major military exercises in exchange for N.Korea halting its weapons programmes.
S. Korea welcomed the sanctions and called on the North to “immediately cease reckless provocations, and take the path of dialogue for denuclearization”. N. Korea regularly threatens to destroy S.Korea, the US and Japan, and says its weapons are necessary to counter US aggression.
Speaking before the Security Council vote, analysts said the new sanctions could have a major effect on the North's economy.
“The cap on oil would be devastating for N. Korea's haulage industry, for N. Koreans who use generators at home or for productive activities, and for ( stateowned enterprises) that do the same,” said Peter Ward, a columnist for NK News. The forced repatriation of its overseas workers would also cut off vital sources of foreign currency.
The move to curb Chinese fuel exports to N.Korea may have limited impact after China National Petroleum Corp suspended diesel and gasoline sales to its northern neighbour in June over concerns it would not get paid. Business has slowed since then.
Russia quietly boosted economic support for N. Korea this year, and last week Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said Moscow was not ready to sign up to sanctions that would strangle the country economically.
In a bid to further choke N. Korea's external sources of funding, the resolution also seeks to ban N. Korean exports of food products, machinery, electrical equipment, earth and stone, wood and vessels. It also bans exports to N.Korea of industrial equipment, machinery, transport vehicles, and industrial metals as well as subjecting 15 N.Koreans and the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces to a global asset freeze and travel ban.
The resolution seeks to allow countries to seize, inspect and freeze any vessel they believe was carrying banned cargo or involved in prohibited activities. Even if the sanctions have an economic effect, it is not clear whether that would push Pyongyang to negotiate or stop its weapons development, said Kim Sung-han, a former South Korean vice foreign minister.
“We have had numerous ... sanctions against North Korea over the past 25 years,” he said. “Almost none have worked effectively to halt the regime's military and nuclear ambitions.”