[Whether the proposed new sanctions will succeed in curtailing Pyongyang ’s nuclear ambitions remains to be seen. Past efforts to halt its nuclear program have not been fully carried out, nor have they prevented North Korea from pursuing a nuclear arsenal. Whether China would follow through on tougher sanctions was also a key question.]
By Somani Sengupta
Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign
Minister Wang Yi of
State Department in
France-Presse —
Getty Images
|
UNITED NATIONS — The United States and China reached an agreement to impose tougher
sanctions against North
Korea, in what appeared to be a diplomatic shift by Beijing
regarding its intransigent ally.
The proposed resolution is the
product of intense negotiations between the two nations over the last seven
weeks, since Pyongyang announced that it had tested a hydrogen
bomb. It was circulated to members of the United
Nations Security Council on
Thursday afternoon, and diplomats said it could come up for a vote in the
coming days.
Diplomats said the fact that Washington and Beijing had agreed on a set of
measures increased the international pressure on the North Koreans. In the
past, after previous nuclear tests condemned by the Security Council, China agreed only to banning weapons
transfers and limited sanctions against those linked to the nuclear program.
Whether
the proposed new sanctions will succeed in curtailing Pyongyang ’s nuclear ambitions remains to
be seen. Past efforts to halt its nuclear program have not been fully carried
out, nor have they prevented North
Korea from pursuing a
nuclear arsenal. Whether China would follow through on
tougher sanctions was also a key question.
United
States officials declined, without explanation, to provide the text of
the resolution.
The proposed measures, according to a United States official, would ban the trade
of conventional weapons, luxury goods like jet skis and Rolex watches, and
aviation fuel to North Korea , which could effectively
ground its national airline. It would also place prohibitions on dozens of new
companies and individuals accused of trafficking in illicit nuclear material.
In what may be the toughest
proposed measure, all North Korean cargo entering or leaving a country must be
inspected by that country. The mandatory cargo inspection provision applies to
“anything going to and from the D.P.R.K.,” according to an American official
who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the talks.
“If it is on your territory, in your ports or in your airports, there’s a
requirement to inspect cargo to and from the D.P.R.K.,” the official said,
using the initials for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea . In addition, 31 ships that
have been known to traffic in illegal nuclear goods are to be banned from
docking in any port. It is impossible to verify whether countries sending or
receiving North Korean goods will carry out the inspections. However, they will
be legally binding if the resolution is adopted.
Significant loopholes remain under the proposed sanctions. North Korea would still be able to buy oil
and sell its coal and iron ore, as long as it is not being used to fund its nuclear
weapons program —
which would be difficult to prove. China , North Korea ’s main trading partner and
diplomatic backer, is its main supplier of oil. The draft resolution would also
prohibit North Korea from exporting gold, titanium
and rare earth minerals.
It would ban countries from sending any item to North Korea that could be used by the
North Korean armed forces, like trucks that could be rejiggered for military
purposes.
Samantha Power, the United States ambassador, called the draft
document “a major upgrade” to existing sanctions against North Korea , which are aimed mainly at
those linked to the nuclear program. “These sanctions if adopted would send an
unambiguous and unyielding message to the D.P.R.K. regime — the world will not
accept your proliferation,” she said Thursday.
The Chinese envoy to the United
Nations, Liu Jieyi, declined to comment on the specifics of the draft on
Thursday but said he hoped the council would reach a consensus. “The resolution
should pave the way for a negotiated solution down the road, not be a
stonewall,” he said.
The new sanctions come as the United States is in talks with officials in Seoul about the possible deployment of an American missile-defense system
in South Korea , a development Beijing strongly objects to. It also
follows stepped up United States sanctions against North Korea .
Kelsey Davenport, a North Korea expert at the Washington-based
Arms Control Association, pointed out that even tough sanctions would not alone
curtail Pyongyang ’s nuclear ambitions without what she called
“sustained diplomacy.”
“China ’s agreement to support
additional U.N. sanctions sends a strong message to North Korea that it cannot count on Beijing to shield it from the costs of
flouting international law,” she said. “However, China ’s support for additional
sanctions may not translate into the political will necessary in Beijing to enforce restrictions on the
books. Without stringent enforcement, North Korea ’s complex illicit trafficking
networks will continue undeterred.”
Reuters quoted the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua
Chunying, as saying, “We hope and believe this new resolution can help
effectively constrain North Korea from further developing its
nuclear missile program.” The draft contains language that notes the “grave
hardships” that North Korean citizens are subjected to, but says nothing about
human rights abuses that have been painstakingly documented by a United Nations
Commission of Inquiry.
John Sifton, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights
Watch, described its nuclear program as “inextricably linked” with Pyongyang ’s record of official
repression, including forced labor and torture. “Sanctioning North Korea ’s nuclear proliferation should
go hand in hand with condemning the devastating human rights abuses that
persist on a massive scale across the country,” he said.