Russia, China push to halt fuel import ban

UNITED NATIONS: Russia and China on Tuesday delayed a US request for a UN Security Council sanctions committee to demand an immediate halt to deliveries of refined petroleum to North Korea over accusations Pyongyang violated an UN cap, diplomats said.

The United States, backed by dozens of allies, told the committee last week that there had been at least 79 illegal deliveries of fuel in 2019 — mainly through transfers between ships at sea — and concluded that North Korea had breached an annual UN cap of 500,000 barrels imposed in December 2017.

North Korea’s UN mission has not responded to a request for comment on the accusations.

Washington wanted the 15-member UN Security Council North Korea sanctions committee to issue a demand for an immediate halt to deliveries of refined petroleum to North Korea.

But the committee operates by consensus and on Tuesday, Pyongyang allies Russia and China delayed Washington’s request for action by putting a so-called “hold” on it, diplomats said.

They told the committee they believed the current situation was still in line with the relevant Security Council resolution, diplomats said.

“We need more details as usual because they provided generalised information,” Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told Reuters.

China and Russia placed a similar US request for an immediate halt in fuel imports in limbo about a year ago, saying they needed more details on Washington’s accusation about the 89 illicit fuel imports allegedly made by North Korea within the first five months of 2018.

“The restriction on the DPRK’s refined petroleum imports is critical to maintaining pressure on the DPRK, including those parties responsible for its WMD (weapons of mass destruction) programme, to achieve the final, fully verified denuclearisation of the DPRK,” read last week’s US complaint, which uses North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK.