Russia emerges as a new factor complicating sanctions against North Korea

Posted on : 2016-02-29 12:04 KST Modified on : 2016-02-29 12:04 KST
Officials representing Russia at the UN say they need more time to assess sanctions bill agreed to by the US and China
 
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

Russia is becoming a new variable in UN Security Council deliberations about a sanctions resolution against North Korea, declining to give its consent to a draft agreed to by the US and China and stating that it needs more time to review it. This also decreases the likelihood that the resolution will be adopted before the end of February, as the South Korean and US governments had hoped.

If Russia asks for a revision to the resolution draft, there will have to be trilateral talks among the US, China and Russia. This could make the process of adopting the resolution take longer than expected.

Since Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council with veto power, no sanctions resolution can be adopted without Russia’s consent.

“Russia is asking why it is only being given one or two days to review a document that the US and China spent nearly 50 days reaching an agreement on,” said a diplomatic source at the UN on Feb. 27. “Given the current mood, the adoption of the resolution may be pushed back until March.”

The remarks suggest that the resolution will be adopted at Feb. 29 at the earliest and this weekend at the latest.

When asked last week about when a vote would be held on the sanctions resolution, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Peter Iliichev said “next week.”

When asked why the Russia is asking for more time, the diplomatic source at the UN said, “Russia has not said that it has a grievance about the fact that the US and China reached the agreement by themselves. There is no way to know whether Russia actually needs more time or whether it has a grievance.”

“Reviewing the draft will take some time since we need not only a review by the Foreign Ministry but also deliberation with the relevant government ministries,” said Russia’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Feb. 25, the day that the resolution draft was circulated among UN Security Council members.

Conceivably, this internal review process could result in the Russian government requesting a revision of the draft resolution.

On Feb. 27, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was quoted by Russian News Agency TASS as telling US Secretary of State John Kerry during a telephone conversation that no damage should be done to legitimate relationships between North Korean and foreign partners in the private-sector economy, considering the current humanitarian difficulties in the North.

Lavrov made the remark after first stating that the response from the international community should be stern and that its focus should be placed on closing the channels of support for North Korea‘s nuclear weapons and missile programs.

The fact that Lavrov made these remarks could mean that Moscow has concluded that some of the sanctions included in the draft could have a negative impact on economic cooperation between Russia and North Korea and that it will ask for these sanctions to be revised.

One factor affecting these steps by the Russian government may be that Russia’s relations with North Korea have been smoother than China’s relations with the North have been since Kim Jong-un came to power in Pyongyang. Russia and North Korea have been increasing contact between diplomatic officials and even announced a “year of friendship” in Mar. 2015.

Economic cooperation between the two sides has also been steadily expanding. In Apr. 2015, Moscow and Pyongyang adopted a protocol concerning economic trade and technological cooperation, which included plans to modernize North Korea’s oil refineries.

Projects are also underway for Russia to modernize the North Korean railroad and to supply electricity to the North Korean city of Rason (Rajin-Sonbong) and to its provinces in the northeast. In Sep. 2013, a 54km-long railroad between the Russian town of Khasan and the North Korean port of Rajin began operations.

While in absolute terms, the volume of trade between Russia and North Korea is much smaller than between China and North Korea, Russia is North Korea’s second-largest trading partner. According to a report by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) assessing foreign trade trends in North Korea, the total amount of trade between North Korea and Russia in 2014 was US$92.34 million, accounting for 1.2% of all of North Korea’s foreign trade.

In 2014, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea reported that about 47,000 North Koreans were working in Russia. While most experts tend to think that there are more North Korean workers in China, the commission‘s report indicated that there were nearly two and a half times more North Koreans working in Russia than in China, where there are 19,000.

In related news, the New York Times raised questions about the effectiveness of the sanctions, pointing out that they do not include trade on the border of North Korea and China, North Koreans earning foreign currency overseas or exports of clothing produced in North Korea.

Quoting a US government official, the Wall Street Journal said that North Korea’s rocket launch was a turning point in the negotiations between the US and China.

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent, Kim Jin-cheol and Lee Je-hun, staff reporters

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