The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Security Council tightens economic vise on N. Korea
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Friday that significantly choke off new fuel supplies and order North Koreans working overseas to return home within two years, in what may prove the last test of whether any amount of economic pressure can force it to reverse course on its nuclear program.
The sanctions, adopted by a vote of 15-0, were the third imposed this year in an escalating effort to force the North into negotiations. China and Russia joined in the resolution, though American officials have charged that in recent months the Russians have secretly been opening new links to the North, including new internet connections that give the country an alternative to communicating primarily through China.
Under the new sanctions, oil exports will be limited to their current level, which has already begun to result in shortages around the country. Countries around the world will be ordered to expel North Korean workers, a key source of hard currency. Nations would also be urged to inspect all North Korean shipping and halt ship-to-ship transfers of fuel, which the North has used to evade sanctions.
But the resolution does not permit countries to hail and board North Korean ships in international waters, which the Trump administration proposed earlier this year. That would be the most draconian measure, because it would enable the U.S. Navy and its Pacific allies to create a cordon around the country, though Pentagon officials
say it would also carry a high risk of triggering a firefight between North Korea and foreign navies.
The vote came just four days after the United States charged that the North was responsible for the “Wannacry” cyber attack that crippled computers around the world in May, and weeks after the country launched a new intercontinental missile that appears capable of reaching any U.S. city. But the White House Homeland Security adviser, Thomas P. Bossert, acknowledged Tuesday that the United States was running out of sanctions options.
“President Trump has used just about every lever you can use, short of starving the people of North Korea to death, to change their behavior,” Bossert said. “And so we don’t have a lot of room left here to apply pressure to change their behavior.”
In fact, the public CIA assessment is that no amount of economic sanctions will force the North to give up its nuclear program.
The United States, which has led the sanctions effort at the Security Council, drafted the latest round of sanctions in consultation
with other members, most notably China, which historically has been reticent to impose them. The deadline for the return of North Korean workers was changed to 24 months from 12 months, partly in response to Chinese and Russian concerns.
It was a striking display of unity, only a day after most members of the U.N. General Assembly condemned the new American stance on Jerusalem.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador, thanked the other Security Council members — especially China — for coming together on the resolution and said further North Korean defiance would “invite further punishment and isolation.”
Haley called North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile test last month “another attempt by the Kim regime to masquerade as a great power while their people starve and their soldiers defect.”
Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Matthew Rycroft, the British ambassador, said the ability of all council members to come together on the North Korea issue showed they are “seeing the bigger interests we all have.”