UN goes easy on N. Korea

THE UNITED Nations Security Council unanimously approved new sanctions on North Korea on Monday — but in a watered-down resolution without an oil import ban or the international asset freeze on the government that the Trump administration wanted.

The resolution does ban North Korea from importing all natural gas liquids and condensates. But it only caps Pyongyang’s imports of crude oil at the level of the last 12 months, and it limits the import of refined petroleum products to 2 million barrels a year. It also bans all textile exports and prohibits all countries from authorizing new work permits for North Korean workers — two key sources of hard currency.

The resolution represents a swift response to the recent nuclear test explosion by North Korea, which it has said was a hydrogen bomb, and to Pyongyang’s escalating launches of increasingly sophisticated ballistic missiles that it says can reach the United States.

But the provisions were a significant climb-down from the toughest-ever sanctions that the Trump administration proposed last week, especially on oil. A complete ban on oil sales could have crippled North Korea’s economy.