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North Korea Could Lose $1 Billion in Exports Under U.N. Measure North Korea Could Lose $1 Billion in Exports Under U.N. Measure
(about 3 hours later)
An American-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution to penalize North Korea would ban the country’s exports of coal, iron, lead and seafood, cutting $1 billion of its $3 billion in annual export revenue, a Security Council diplomat said on Friday. The United States hit North Korea at the United Nations on Friday with a proposed set of unprecedented economic penalties, punctuated by a one-third cut in its export revenue, to punish the isolated country for its missile and nuclear tests.
The diplomat, briefing reporters on the draft resolution, called the penalties “extremely impactful” and the most significant of any of the resolutions over the past 11 years aimed at stopping North Korea from developing its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile capabilities. The penalties were contained in a draft Security Council resolution that American diplomats have been working on since North Korea launched its first successful intercontinental ballistic missile a month ago, demonstrating an ability to attack the United States homeland.
The diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in accordance with protocol, said that the resolution had been circulated to all 15 Security Council members and that the United States would push for “rapid adoption.” North Korea, which considers the United States its most dangerous and implacable enemy, conducted a second successful ballistic missile test last week.
China, North Korea’s most important ally, is expected to go along with the resolution, the diplomat said. A vote on the measure could come as early as Saturday. Under North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, the country has boasted of its increasingly sophisticated missiles in rejection of United Nations prohibitions. The North has also threatened to punish the United States and its other perceived foes — South Korea and Japan — with a “nuclear sword of justice.”
The diplomat said the draft resolution would also place new financial restrictions on North Korea and limit its ability to send workers abroad, another important source of revenue for the country. The American-drafted resolution, which was circulated on Friday to all 15 Security Council members, is scheduled to be put to a vote on Saturday afternoon.
The United States has been working on the resolution since North Korea tested a ballistic missile on July 4 that appeared to be capable of reaching Alaska. The North Koreans tested a similar missile last week. It was circulated after American diplomats held extensive discussions about the language with China and Russia, suggesting that the two will back the measure or at least not block it with their veto power.
Ambassador Nikki R. Haley of the United States has said that any new resolution on North Korea would have to exert more pressure on the country than the measures to date, which have not deterred its missile and nuclear ambitions. Support for the draft resolution from China, North Korea’s most important trading partner, is considered critical. If achieved, it will partly reflect what diplomats have called China’s waning tolerance for Mr. Kim’s belligerent behavior.
North Korea has called all of the sanctions unlawful and vowed to press ahead with the testing. The draft resolution, which needs at least nine yes votes for approval, would be the most punitive of any resolution over the past 11 years aimed at pressuring North Korea into abandoning its nuclear arms ambitions.
A Security Council diplomat told reporters that the draft resolution’s provisions banning North Korea’s exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood would together lop roughly $1 billion from the country’s $3 billion in annual export revenue.
The diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in keeping with protocol, said it was the first time that entire sectors of North Korea’s export economy would be banned. He called it “the most impactful and expansive set of sanctions to date.”
The draft resolution, which “condemns in the strongest terms” the July 4 and July 28 missile tests, would also place new limits on North Korea’s joint ventures and Foreign Trade Bank, and prohibit the country from sending more workers to overseas jobs — another important source of revenue for the impoverished nation of 25 million people.
Nonetheless, the draft resolution did not go nearly as far as what the American ambassador, Nikki R. Haley, had demanded after the July 4 ballistic missile test.
Declaring American exasperation with the ineffectiveness of existing sanctions, Ms. Haley called for cutoffs of North Korea’s access to foreign money and oil for its military. Those steps were not taken.
Whether the resolution’s penalties would have much effect on North Korea’s actions is a matter of debate. Despite the country’s longstanding economic isolation, it has repeatedly defied Western-led efforts to change its behavior through sanctions.
“I don’t think this is something that will bring North Korea to its knees,” said Jae H. Ku, the director of the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.
“This might be the gradual wringing of the neck of North Korea, but we’ve been down this road many times,” he said. “North Korea has always been able to find loopholes.”
The United States put forward the resolution three days after Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson offered to open negotiations with the North Koreans by assuring “the security they seek” as well as new economic opportunities — if the North abandoned its nuclear weapons.
Mr. Tillerson’s outreach was the Trump administration’s first serious attempt at a diplomatic opening to North Korea. His remarks were welcomed by China, which has repeatedly called for calm among all antagonists in the long-running Korean Peninsula crisis.
But the United States has sent a mixed message, diplomacy coupled with a display of military strength. It tested its own intercontinental ballistic missile in the South Pacific on Wednesday, within hours of Mr. Tillerson’s remarks. And last weekend, the United States flew two strategic bombers across the Korean Peninsula in a military exercise with South Korea, its ally.
Mr. Kim has thus far shown no intention of relinquishing his nuclear arsenal. If anything, he has vowed to strengthen it.
American intelligence assessments have generally concluded that the North Korean leader has no incentive to negotiate with the United States until his country emphatically shows that it could arm a missile with a nuclear weapon that could reach the American mainland.