Tougher sanctions are now laid on the table to address the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula. The Trump administration has sought to impose new sanctions on the communist regime. An oil ban on North Korea is among these new sanctions. But the US seeks to freeze Kim Jong-un’s assets.
The United States proposes tougher sanctions against North Korea
The United States has already passed a resolution to the UN Security Council. The resolution contained possible measures to counter the North’s latest H-bomb test. The resolution seeks to ban the supply of oil in Kim Jong-un’s regime.
It also calls for a ‘stop’ on patronizing North Korea’s textile exports. Also, the North’s leader will be banned from traveling, and his assets are frozen. This demarche by the US aimed to harden measures against the North to force it to end its nuclear weapons program.
North Korea claimed that it now can create a miniaturized H-bomb that can fit into an intercontinental ballistic missile. In August, the world was shocked when the North launched a ballistic missile over a densely populated northern region of Japan, Hokkaido.
Will Russia and China back the US resolution?
Although the actions of the North may have embarrassed President Xi Jinping during a BRAC conference, the question whether China, as well as Russia, will back the latest US sanctions on North Korea remains uncertain.
The two allies of the North were known to be skeptical over increasing sanction. On top of that, they supply the North with oil products.
Another provision in the resolution is the ban on the recruitment of laborers from North Korea. This could paralyze North Korea’s economy which is dependent to remittance from foreign earnings.
Earlier this week, US Ambassador Nikki Haley told members of the UN Security Council that Kim’s communist regime had continued its nuclear development program despite the increasing sanctions by the international community. Haley would want the UN Security Council to vote on the US resolution, Reuters reported. However, the said resolution may confront strong opposition from certain members.
Regarding the supply of oil products to the North, President Vladimir Putin asserted that the amount of oil exported by Russia to Jong-un’s regime was rather small and was around 40,000 tons. President Putin further argued that the new sanctions were not the right solution to the crisis.
But unlike Russia, China has shown support to the new sanctions on North Korea concerning the latter’s continuing missile tests. With the Security Council divided on the issue, the US government remains resolute in its stand against the North’s continued nuclear program and ballistic missile launches.
