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From August 15

China announced that it is enforcing new UN Security Council Resolution 2371 sanctioning North Korea by implementing a full-scale ban on imports of related North Korean products as of Aug. 15.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce posted an announcement to its webpage on the afternoon of Aug. 14 announcing a full-scale ban on imports of North Korean coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore, and seafood as of Aug. 15. The list includes most of the items that China currently imports from North Korea.

The announcement also said importation of goods arriving in China before Aug. 14 would be allowed, and that importation procedures of any kind would no longer be allowed as of midnight on Sept. 5. For Chinese businesses importing coal and other items through the port of Rajin in North Korea, the measures by China would allow importation only if the companies can prove to the UNSC’s North Korea sanctions committee that North Korea is not the place of origin.

The measures are not independent actions by Beijing, but procedures to enforce the new UNSC resolution adopted on Aug. 5. The announcement stated that the measures were “for the enforcement of UNSC resolutions in accordance with the Foreign Trade Law of the People's Republic of China.” The move also appears to have been influenced by growing pressure on Beijing from Washington in connection with North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations.

The UNSC resolution, adopted last month after two ICBM launches by North Korea, includes a full-scale ban on exports of North Korean coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore, and seafood. It also abolished upper limits on coal exports from previous resolutions and provisions allowing exportation of iron ore for “livelihood purposes.” The UN estimates that around US$1 billion of North Korea’s US$3 billion in annual exports will be subject to sanctions. North Korea has objected vehemently to the measures, stating in an Aug. 7 statement in the name of the “government of the Republic” that it “utterly rejects” them.　

By Kim Oi-hyun, Beijing correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]