UN Security Council Hardens Sanctions against North Korea

Publicly, China has defended its coal imports since the sanctions earlier this year.

The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, said that the move made by the UN is “the strongest sanctions regime the Security Council has imposed on any country in more than a generation”.

South Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations, Oh Joon, estimates more than $1.3 billion has already been spent on testing and missile-launching. “With this amount of money, you can buy 10 million tons of corns which can feed the entire North Korean population for three years”.

Resolution 2321 emphasizes, for the first time, a human rights dimension beyond the DPKR’s proliferation activities – the need for the DPRK to respect and ensure the inherent dignity of people in its territory. Interviews with Chinese traders and business owners in Dandong reveal commerce with North Korea has become squeezed to an unprecedented degree as Beijing tries to thwart Pyongyang’s accelerating nuclear and missile programs.

Byrne said in an interview that China was very displeased with the threats arising from advances in North Korea’s nuclear program and feels that the program destabilizes the Korean Peninsula. He disclosed that as he has been to Nigeria for the same issue as they want to enhance the understanding of the opinion leaders and academics of Sierra Leone, “the country which has been increasingly active in worldwide arena, on the issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula”.

“When we watch North Korean missile launches on television, we feel as if a brother in the family is wielding a gun, shooting in the air, while his children are screaming”.

The resolution condemning the reclusive regime’s fifth nuclear test aims to prevent North Korea from developing nuclear weapons by further tightening measures to block funding and stop the procurement of parts and technology.

The new measures target North Korea’s exports of coal, capping an export that accounts for about a third of the nation’s economy by an estimated $800 million (755 million euros).

The Japanese government plans to tighten its unilateral sanctions against the country in tandem with the United States and South Korea, and it is now considering measures such as expanding the scope of people banned from reentering Japan after visiting North Korea.

After the council adopted the resolution, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the new resolution “sends an unequivocal message” that the DPRK must cease further provocative actions and comply fully with its global obligations. “It sends an unequivocal message that the DPRK must cease further provocative action”.

“Resolution 2321 formulates new measures, showing the resolve of the Security Council, and also points out they must avoid creating adverse consequences for North Korean civilian and humanitarian needs, and are not meant to create negative effects on normal trade”, he said.

Meanwhile, Seoul’s foreign ministry says, Japan, the US and the European Union are also expected to announce their own unilateral sanctions at a similar time.

And that is precisely what this resolution achieves.

The council unanimously approved the sanctions resolution with diplomats hailing it as a major step forward in its efforts to get the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to abandon its nuclear ambitions. A different question to ask is: Have they impeded the DPRK’s nuclear and ballistic missile program from the development that it otherwise would have been able to do?

China is North Korea’s primary ally and one of the few markets for its coal. If properly enforced, they would reduce its overall export revenues by 25 per cent in a year. Tokyo will put more pressure on Pyongyang to urge it to soften its attitude, while continuing to seek ways for bilateral talks to resolve the issue of abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea.

The resolution places sanctions on several individuals in the North Korean regime.