US pushes to 'update, strengthen' UN sanctions on North Korea

The United States said on Friday it will push United Nations sanctions on North Korea to be strengthened over "increasingly dangerous provocations," but China and Russia signalled opposition and instead argued for such measures to be eased.

>>Reuters
Published : 26 March 2022, 05:49 AM
Updated : 26 March 2022, 05:49 AM

North Korea has been subjected to UN sanctions since 2006, which the UN Security Council has steadily stepped up over the years in a bid to cut off funding for Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

But the hermit Asian state has successfully worked to evade some UN sanctions, according to independent UN sanctions monitors, who reported last month that North Korean cyberattacks on cryptocurrency exchanges were an important revenue source, earning Pyongyang hundreds of millions of dollars. Read full story

US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the 15-member council on Friday that she would propose a draft resolution "to update and strengthen the sanctions regime" on North Korea. She did not give any details.

The council last adopted a resolution imposing sanctions in December 2017, which included a ban on nearly 90 percent of refined petroleum exports to North Korea. It committed to further restrict petroleum exports if there was another nuclear test or intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch.

North Korea launched what it called a new ICBM on Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the test was designed to demonstrate the might of its nuclear force and deter any US military moves. Read full story

The Security Council met on Friday, at the request of the United States and five other members, to discuss the ICBM launch, which was the latest in a string of missile tests. Nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches by North Korea have long been banned by the Security Council.

'ATTRACTIVE PROPOSAL'

China and Russia signalled opposition to the US move on Friday. They have instead long been pushing for an easing of UN sanctions to improve North Korea's humanitarian situation and to encourage Pyongyang to return to denuclearisation negotiations with the United States and others.

"No party should take any action that would lead to greater tensions," China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun told the council on Friday. "The US must not continue to brush aside the DPRK's justified demands. It should offer an attractive proposal to pave the way for early resumed dialogue."

North Korea's formal name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Pyongyang wants US and UN sanctions to be removed.

Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva told the council that Russia believed a further strengthening of UN sanctions "would threaten North Korean citizens with unacceptable socioeconomic and humanitarian problems."

Thomas-Greenfield rejected Russia's argument, saying that UN experts had said the main barrier to sending humanitarian aid to North Korea was the country's own border closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, not international sanctions.

The United States and allies have also accused Kim of diverting money to the nuclear weapons and missile programs instead of spending it on the North Korean people.

"Offering sanctions relief, without substantive diplomatic progress, would only funnel more revenue to the regime and accelerate the realisation of its WMD (weapons of mass destruction) and ballistic weapons goals," Thomas-Greenfield said.

UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo stressed to the council on Friday that its unity "in this matter is essential to ease tensions, overcome the diplomatic impasse and avoid a negative action-reaction cycle."