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Representatives discuss possible responses to North Korea’s sixth nuclear test at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Sept. 7 (AFP/Yonhap News)

The draft of the UN Security Council’s sanctions resolution against North Korea that was prepared by the administration of US President Donald Trump in response to the North’s sixth nuclear test would place an embargo on crude oil and would freeze the overseas assets of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and others, the foreign press reported on Sept. 6. The Trump administration has apparently started out with its maximum demands as a bargaining tactic for its negotiations with China and Russia.

The draft of the US’s sanctions resolutions runs the gamut on nearly every imaginable sanction that could be placed on the North. The draft would ban not only crude oil, but all petroleum products, including condensed oil, refined petroleum and liquefied natural gas (LNG), from being exported to North Korea.

The draft would also place sanctions on Kim Jong-un, Kim’s younger sister and Korean Workers Party's (KWP) Propaganda and Agitation Department Deputy Director Kim Yo-jong, Korean People's Army (KPA) General Political Department Director Hwang Pyong-so, KWP Propaganda and Agitation Department Director Kim Ki-nam, and Defense Minister Pak Yong-sik. These individuals would be banned from traveling overseas, and their overseas assets would be frozen.

The draft would also ban exports of apparel, which accounted for 25% (about US$720 million) of North Korea’s total export value last year. China reportedly imports 80% of North Korea’s apparel products. Also included in the draft is a ban on employing or paying wages to North Korea’s overseas workers, of whom there are estimated to be 50,000. This would go a step beyond Resolution No. 2371, which the Security Council adopted on Aug. 5 and which only banned the expansion of the employment of North Korean guest workers. In addition, the draft would authorize UN member states to stop and search North Koreans ships that are under sanctions when they are encountered on the high seas, and it would also slap sanctions on Air Koryo, North Korea’s state airline.

Resolutions in the UN Security Council are decided through political negotiations between the US, China and Russia. Therefore, the draft itself does not lead directly to the resolution. After North Korea launched an ICBM on July 4, for example, the US government reportedly included a ban on crude oil exports to North Korea in the initial draft, but this was not reflected in the final version. The US also unsuccessfully lobbied to have the name “Kim Jong-un” specifically included on the sanctions list.

After speaking on the phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sept. 6, Trump told reporters, “President Xi would like to do something [about North Korea’s nuclear tests]” but said it remains to be seen whether or not he actually would. Trump continued by saying, “I believe that President Xi agrees with me 100%. He doesn’t want to see what’s happening there either."

When asked about military action against North Korea,” Trump said, "Certainly that's not our first choice,” but he added that "we will see what happens." Given the overall tone of Trump’s remarks, some experts think that Trump and Xi came to some general agreement during their phone call about the sanctions resolution against North Korea.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a press conference on Sept. 7 that China was resolutely opposed to North Korea’s recent nuclear test, which was a grave violation of UN Security Council resolutions and which undermined the international nonproliferation regime.

"Given the new unfolding developments on the Korean peninsula, China agrees with the point the UN Security Council should take necessary measures,” Wang said. But he also urged the relevant parties to work toward dialogue. Wang compared sanctions and pressure to one half of the key to the solution. The other half is dialogue and negotiations, he said, and the two must be combined into one key to actually unlock the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula.

"I have an executive order prepared. It's ready to go to the president [Trump]. It will authorize me to stop doing trade, and put sanctions on anybody that does trade with North Korea,” US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told reporters on Sept. 6 on a plane bound for Washington.

After these remarks aimed at putting pressure on China, Mnuchin added that “The president will consider that at the appropriate time once he gives the UN time to act," hinting that independent US sanctions against Chinese companies are contingent on whether China cooperates with the UN Security Council.

By Kim Oi-hyun, Beijing correspondent and Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent

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