US draft seeks to fully ban crude oil exports to N. Korea

September 7, 2017

NEW YORK- The United States on Wednesday distributed a draft of a new, very powerful UN Security Council sanctions resolution against North Korea featuring an all-out ban on crude oil exports to the country to all 14 other states comprising the panel, including Japan, a nonpermanent member.

The draft resolution, worked out in response to Pyongyang's sixth nuclear test on Sunday, also calls for adding North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, to the list of individuals and organizations subject to asset freeze and travel ban.

The United States aims to put the resolution to a vote on Monday.

The draft is far more powerful than the eight past Security Council sanctions resolutions against Pyongyang, apparently reflecting Washington's strong determination to pave the way for solving the issue of North Korean provocations.

But it is unclear if China and Russia will support the US draft because the two countries have voiced opposition to measures that could destabilize North Korea, sources familiar with the situation said. The envisaged oil embargo is expected to be a humiliating blow to the North Korean regime and significantly affect citizens in the country.

In this context, attention will be focused on how the US-led camp will try to persuade China and Russia, two of the five veto-wielding permanent Security Council members, to accept the US draft, the sources said.

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia has said that it is premature to put the draft resolution to a vote on Monday.

At an emergency Security Council meeting on Monday, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley underscored the need for the international community to impose "the strongest possible measures" against North Korea, which continues nuclear and missile development.

It seems that the United States intends to keep a check on North Korea ahead of its national foundation day on Saturday, the sources said.

South Korea's Ministry of National Defense is concerned that North Korea may fire an intercontinental ballistic missile again, following its launch of two ICBMs in July, which led the Security Council to adopt last month the seventh sanctions resolution mainly banning North Korea from exporting such products as coal and seafood.

Among other recent provocative acts by the reclusive country was the launch late last month of an intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew over Hokkaido, northernmost Japan, and fell into the northern Pacific Ocean.

In the sixth nuclear test, the country claimed that it successfully conducted a test of a hydrogen bomb that can be loaded into an ICBM.

Expressing the "gravest concern" at the nuclear test, the draft resolution requires all U.N. member states to prohibit "the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer" of all crude oil, condensate, refined petroleum products and natural gas liquids to North Korea.

As part of measures to prevent North Korea from earning hard currencies, the draft seeks to fully ban the country's shipments of textiles, one of its key export items, to other countries while all UN member nations are obliged not to provide "work authorizations" to North Korean nationals.

Because of allegations that incomes earned by North Koreans working abroad have been used for the country's nuclear and missile development, the resolution adopted in August banned UN member states from accepting new North Korean workers. But North Koreans who had already been employed abroad were allowed to continue working there.

The draft resolution says five individuals, including Kim Jong Un, his younger sister Kim Yo Jong, and Hwang Pyong So, director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army, as well as seven organizations, including Air Koryo and the KPA, should be added to the asset freeze and travel ban list.

The draft shows support for the six-party talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear program and calls for a resumption of the suspended talks.

Underscoring the importance of maintaining "peace and stability" on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, it expresses a "commitment to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution" to the situation.

At the same time, the draft resolution warns that "further significant measures" will be taken against North Korea if the country conducts a further nuclear test or missile launch.

The adoption of a Security Council resolution requires support from nine or more of the 15 countries making up the panel, on condition that none of the five veto-wielding members--Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States--oppose it. Jiji Press