From inspecting visiting North Korean ships to paring back coal imports, the burden of enforcing new UN sanctions on Pyongyang falls mainly on China, which wants to punish its ally for nuclear violations without squeezing it to the point of crisis.
After nearly two months of negotiations between Washington and Beijing, China on Thursday agreed to a US proposal that would dramatically tighten existing restrictions on North Korea after its Jan. 6 nuclear test and Feb. 7 rocket launch.
The draft would require UN member states to conduct mandatory inspections of all cargo passing through their territory to or from North Korea and bans all gold exports, as well as exports of coal if proceeds fund the North’s weapons programs.
For China, which accounts for 90 percent of North Korean trade, that means stepping up inspections at sea ports such as Dalian and in the border city of Dandong, through which much of the trade between the countries passes.
China, which defended North Korea in the 1950-1953 Korean War, is Pyongyang’s closest ally and largest trading partner. While it has become increasingly critical of the North’s nuclear and missile programs, it prizes stability on the Korean Peninsula.
“It might look like China is cooperating, but that’ll just be on the surface,” said Kim Dong-yub of Kyungnam University’s Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Seoul.
The two countries share a fairly porous 1,400km border where both legal and illicit trade has grown in recent years, and off-the-books trade accounts for a significant share of commerce between the two.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) said China believes the new sanctions should be aimed at reining in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and should not affect ordinary people, and that what is most needed is to get negotiations back on track.
The draft resolution targets impoverished North Korea’s heavy reliance on mineral exports by banning the sale or transfer of North Korean coal, iron and iron ore if profits are deemed to be spent on its nuclear or missile programs.
Minerals for sale that are “exclusively for livelihood purposes” are exempted, which analysts said would be impossible to monitor.
The draft resolution also proposes banning all exports of aviation fuel to North Korea, except for “essential” and “humanitarian” cases, which could make it difficult to stage an air show planned for September in the port city of Wonsan that is to include aerobatic displays by the North Korean air force.
Much of North Korea’s aviation fuel appears to come from China. Last year, the isolated country spent US$876.6 million importing 1,414 tonnes of Chinese jet fuel, according to Chinese customs data — enough for North Korea to operate its fleet of largely Soviet-era military aircraft.
“The draft is very strong and, if adopted as now written, was definitely worth the wait it took to plug loopholes and toughen restrictions on transport and finance,” William Newcomb, a former member of the UN panel of experts on North Korea, told reporters.
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