U.S. AND CHINA AGREE TO TOUGHEN NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS

[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 China at the

State Department in Washington, on Tuesday.Credit Saul Loeb/Agence 

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.

@ The New York Times