The United Nations Security Council placed New Sanctions on North Korea on Friday that significantly Choke off Fuel Supplies and order North Koreans working Overseas to Return Home, in what may prove the last Test of whether any amount of Economic Pressure can force the isolated Country to Reverse Course on its Nuclear Weapons Program.
The Sanctions, proposed by the U.S. and adopted by a Vote of 15 to 0, were the Third Imposed this year in an escalating effort to Force North Korean into Negotiations. China and Russia joined in the Vote, in a striking display of Unity, but only after the Trump Administration agreed to Soften a couple of Provisions.
Under the New Sanctions, North Korea’s Imports of Refined Petroleum will be Cut by 89%, exacerbating Fuel Shortages. North Korean Laborers who Work in other Countries, a Key Source of Hard Currency, will be Expelled. Nations will be urged to Inspect all North Korean Shipping and halt Ship-to-Ship Transfers of Fuel, which the North has used to evade Sanctions.
But the Resolution does not permit Countries to Hail or Board North Korean Ships in International Waters, which the Trump Administration proposed in September. That would be the most Draconian measure, because it would enable the United States Navy and its Pacific Allies to create a Cordon around the Country, though Pentagon Officials say it would also carry a High Risk of Triggering a Firefight between North Korea and Foreign Navies.
The New Sanctions are the toughest ever, but so were the last Two Rounds. In August, the Security Council Blocked North Korean Exports of Coal, Iron, Iron Ore, Lead, Lead Ore, and Seafood. In September, it called for Inspections of Ships going In and Out of the North’s Ports.
Experts, and even the White House, agree that the United States is running out of Sanctions Options. The CIA Assessment is that no amount of Economic Sanctions will force the North to give up its Nuclear Program. “President Trump has used just about every lever you can use, short of starving the people of North Korea to death, to change their behavior,” the White House Homeland Security Adviser, Thomas P. Bossert, said on Tuesday. “And so we don’t have a lot of room left here to apply pressure to change their behavior.”
The Vote came just Four days after the United States charged that the North was responsible for the “Wannacry” Cyberattack that Crippled Computers around the world in May, and nearly a month after the Country launched a New Intercontinental Missile that appears capable of reaching any City in the United States. The United States, which has led the Sanctions effort at the Security Council, Drafted the latest round in Consultation with other Members, notably China, which Historically has been reluctant to Impose them.
There were some Last-Minute Changes in the Final Version of the Resolution, partly to satisfy Russian Complaints. The Changes included Doubling the Deadline for the Return of North Korean Workers to 24 Months from 12 Months. Russia’s Deputy Ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, who attended the Security Council Vote, made a point of Complaining about Negotiations over the Resolution, in which he said Russia had not been adequately Consulted. Still, Russia went along with the New Measures, though American Officials have Charged that in recent Months the Russians have Secretly Opened New Links to the North, including New Internet Connections that give the Country an Alternative to Communicating primarily through China.
The Unanimous Decision was a Diplomatic achievement for the Trump Administration, only a day after most Members of the United Nations General Assembly, brushing aside President Trump’s threats of Retaliation, Condemned the United States’ New Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital. Nikki R. Haley, the American Ambassador, thanked the other Council Members, especially China, for coming together on the Resolution and said further North Korean Defiance would “invite further punishment and isolation.” Haley called North Korea’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Test last month “another attempt by the Kim regime to masquerade as a great power while their people starve and their soldiers defect.”
The assent of China and Russia to the tightened Measures appeared to reflect growing Impatience with North Korea by the World’s most powerful Nations, regardless of their Politics. Experts on North Korea said the New Measures had the potential to dissuade North Korea’s Leader, Kim Jong-un, from further Escalating Tensions with more Tests, but they were cautious about predicting his Behavior.
“If the international community, including countries like China and Russia, implements these measures fully, faithfully and quickly, it will apply an unprecedented and irresistible level of pressure on the North Korean regime,” said Evans J. R. Revere, a former Senior State Department Diplomat for East Asia. If that happens, He said, it would force North Korea “to make a choice between continued defiance of the international community on the one hand and a return to the negotiating table on the other.”
Others were more Skeptical. “My fear is that North Korea will continue to weather the pressure, and China will continue to do just enough to satisfy the U.S. and sustain North Korea,” said Jae H. Ku, Director of the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. “The upshot would be the Trump administration admitting that maximum pressure to gain a diplomatic solution is a lost cause and that only military strikes can slow down, stop and eradicate the North’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs,” Ku said.
The tightened Measures Approved on Friday would also place Limits on Crude Oil Deliveries and give other Countries enhanced Powers to stop North Korea-bound Ships suspected of carrying Contraband. A further Punitive Action requires North Korea to Recall thousands of North Korean laborers, many of them working in Russia and China, who send Remittances Home, an important source of Government Income. That action tightens an earlier sanction that banned North Korea from sending more Workers Abroad. New Restrictions also were Placed on North Korean Exports of Food, Machinery, and Electrical Equipment.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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