Wall Street Journal
FARNAZ FASSIHI
- New measures would include mandatory cargo inspections and a cutoff of jet fuel deliveries
The United Nations Security Council moved Thursday toward imposing what diplomats called significant new sanctions on North Korea, including mandatory cargo inspections and a cutoff of jet-fuel deliveries to the country, in response to its recent nuclear and missile tests.
The resolution, which is based on an agreement between the U.S. and China, would target a sweeping range of North Korea’s “pressure points,” diplomats said, including its financial institutions, cargo shipments and exports of natural resources, as well as its access to aircraft fuel and rocket fuel.
It would also impose measures on an expanded list of individuals and entities connected to the regime.
“If adopted, it will break new ground and represent the strongest new set of sanctions in two decades,” said U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power. “The message here is there must be and there will be accountability for North Korea’s actions.”
Among its provisions are a complete ban on all types weapons transfers to and from North Korea and a mandatory inspection by U.N. member states of all cargo going to and from North Korea by air, sea and land. The resolution also effectively would ground North Korea’s aircraft by prohibiting imports of aircraft fuel, according to a U.S. official familiar with the text of the sanctions.
The Security Council met on Thursday afternoon for an hour to discuss the resolution, introduced by the U.S. after nearly seven weeks of negotiations with China over the wording and extent of punishment for North Korea. It is expected to be adopted this weekend, U.S. officials said.
The Security Council has adopted four resolutions targeting North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile program since 2006, but they have had little effect in deterring Pyongyang from advancing its programs. The new sanctions represent what officials called a significant upgrade.
For the first time, U.N. member states would be required to inspect all cargo bound for North Korea for possible illicit shipments; previously, inspections were conducted only on grounds of suspicion. The new sanctions would ban the transfer of even small arms, which were allowed under previous resolutions. And the resolution nearly doubles the list of individuals and entities to be targeted.
In cases such as cargo inspections or asset freezes, the new resolution legally binds member states to abide by the sanctions, instead of calling on them to apply reasonable grounds for implementation.
North Korea’s mission to the U.N. didn’t respond to requests to comment.
Diplomats said the new sanctions introduced Thursday were the strongest the Council had considered in a generation. “This is a very robust resolution, this is not at all more of the same,” said a U.S, official at the U.N.
Officials said that intense diplomatic efforts at the U.N. and at senior levels between Washington and Beijing helped bring the Chinese and U.S. positions closer. In the course of negotiations, President Barack Obama spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Secretary of State John Kerry met three times with his Chinese counterpart.
One American official said that a turning point in the U.S.-China negotiations was when North Korea test-launched a ballistic missile in early February, disregarding international concern over its earlier test Jan. 6 of what it said was a hydrogen bomb. The U.S. and other countries said the blast wasn’t powerful enough to have been a hydrogen bomb.
China’s ambassador to the U.N., Liu Jieyi, told reporters after the Security Council meeting that his country was working very closely with other Council members to ratify the resolution. “The resolution should pave the way for a negotiated solution down the road,” said Mr. Liu.
The resolution identifies six broad groups of sanctions targets: conventional arms capabilities, illicit proliferation networks, cargo shipments, the use of sectoral sanctions to target economic sectors, financial sanctions, and transfers of ballistic and nuclear material.
Much of the sanctions effort attempts to cut off North Korea from any transaction that may generate revenues for the government. For example, it prohibits countries from hosting North Korean trainers or consultants, even in the field of martial arts.
Ships would be prohibited from flying under North Korea’s flag, and there would be a complete ban on exporting gold, titanium ore and vanadium ore, a type of rare earth mineral. In several cases, exceptions could be made if the exchange of goods was for the livelihood of ordinary North Korean people. American officials said that this provision was designed to avert the impact of sanctions on the population, who already are suffering under economic hardship, and instead ensure they are aimed at the country’s elite.
For example, North Korea would be allowed to export coal, iron and iron ore if states determined that it was for purposes of livelihood and not related to financial gains for the regime.
States could allow North Korean individuals and companies to charter ships and planes if they concluded that they involved goods necessary for life sustaining purposes. But states would have to seek the permission of a Security Council sanctions committee on a case-by-case basis.
Five annexes to the resolution will sanction 17 North Korean individuals and 12 entities, many key government institutions such as its Ministry of Atomic Energy and the national aerospace institute. Thirty-one North Korean vessels, with their names and identification numbers, would be grounded and there will be an updated list of technical and biochemical items with dual military use.
Imports of luxury goods such as designer watches, jet skis and snowmobiles that cost more than $2,000 also would be banned.
“We believe we have a resolution that establishes unprecedented sanctions in order to break the irresponsible behavior of North Korea’s regime and get them back on the negotiating table. What is at stake is the credibility of the Security Council,” said France’s Ambassador Francois Delattre.
