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The UN Security Council

The first draft of a UN Security Council sanctions resolution against North Korea that was prepared by the US would reportedly block China and other countries from exporting oil to North Korea and from importing North Korea’s mineral resources.

In addition, a North Korean sanctions bill that is currently being reviewed in the US Senate was confirmed to include a de facto ban on transactions involving resources like minerals and coal that are used in normal industrial activities.

The administration of US President Barack Obama has been testing the waters to see how China and other countries will respond to a draft of the resolution containing such provisions, Japan’s Kyodo News said in a Jan. 22 report that quoted a diplomatic source in UN headquarters.

Reportedly, the draft would also prevent countries from allowing Air Koryo, North Korea’s state-run airline, to pass through their airspace. This amounts to a demand for China to cancel all flights by Air Koryo.

A proposal to toughen inspections of North Korean cargo is also being mooted for the new sanctions resolution against the North, the Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, reported on Jan. 22.

This would be important because freighters departing from North Korea make their first stop in the Chinese port of Dalian, where they load their freight onto huge container ships.

“If China carries out proper freight inspections at its port of Dalian, we would be able to catch most of the banned items that North Korea exports,” a source at the UN Security Council said.

Given that the US-prepared draft of the resolution that is being reported in the media effectively calls on China to sever all of its relations with North Korea, it appears unlikely that China will accept it in its current form. As such, there is a good chance that the US is using this to put pressure on China in order to extract as many concessions as possible.

Tough measures also appear in one of two North Korea sanctions bills being discussed in the US Senate. The bill, which reportedly has a greater chance of being passed, is sponsored by Sen. Cory Gardner, chair of the Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, under the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Gardner’s bill would put sanctions on those who are involved in the sale, supply, and transfer of software and unprocessed and semi-processed metals (including precious metals, graphite, aluminum, steel, and coal) that are used at factories throughout North Korean industry.

By Gil Yun-hyung, Tokyo correspondent, and Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent

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