Technology Won’t Solve the North Korea Headache

Before the meeting, the Japanese delegation planned to prioritize North Korea in the discussions between the two leaders. The United States has the capability and position to selectively and strongly apply pressure to North Korea via diplomacy and sanctions, and South Korea does indeed have a privileged role in working with the North.

About 120 South Korean companies paid about double the $70 a month minimum wage in North Korea for each of the 55,000 workers hired in Kaesong. Nikki Haley, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations commented on July 9 during an interview with the U.S. broadcasting company CBS that, “North Korea’s launch of an ICBM is completely another level of threat and an unprecedented danger, so the USA will strengthen pressure on North Korea through cooperation with China”.

US President Donald Trump has been openly expressing disappointment over China’s lukewarm stance in curbing its economic trade with North Korea, which reportedly grew nearly 40 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, raising the possibility for broader secondary sanctions.

Analysts polled by Reuters had anticipated June shipments from the world’s largest exporter to have risen 8.7 per cent, in line with May’s growth. Needless to say, North Korea today poses a grave danger to western civilisation but focusing media attention on that threat will take the focus away from Muslim affairs and that would be a great setback for the vast anti-Muslim media empire. However, the bulk of the goods sold were not included in the list of products detailed in the United Nations embargo, the official said, according to a Reuters report.

For the Chinese government, purchases of iron ore provide a way to support the regime of Kim Jong Un now that sanctions more strictly cover North Korean coal.

The United States enacted a law in February 2016 when Barack Obama was president to strengthen sanctions against North Korea.

But transmitting those programs to North Koreans has always been a problem.

The UN sanctions allow trade in items considered “exclusively for livelihood purposes”.

“These negotiations could offer the prospect of engaging North Korea in line with worldwide norms by ending horrific human rights abuses, including labour trafficking”, he said. We can see now from China’s statement that they have run out of patience. By demonstrating that it can project diplomatic influence in the Asia-Pacific region and act independently from China, Russia increases its credibility as a strategic partner for Southeast Asia countries seeking to hedge their alignments with Washington, like Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand.

South Korea’s president, Moon Jaein said, “I think that the North Korean question should be solved by peaceful means”. If China were to cut off supplies, “it would be economically disastrous”, he said.