NK threatening tough response to UN sanctions
Print Edition
NORTH Korea says a sweeping new round of UN sanctions aimed at choking its nuclear program by cutting off as much of a quarter of its foreign trade revenue is an “abuse of power” and will be met with tough countermeasures.
Vice Foreign Minister Han Song Ryol called a gathering of foreign diplomats in Pyongyang early yesterday to lay out his country’s opposition to the sanctions, which are the harshest to date and have the support of China, North Korea’s primary trading partner.
“We categorically reject the UN Security Council resolution on sanctions against our country,” Han said. “The adoption of the resolution is another open denial of our country’s right to self-defense, which goes beyond the mandate of the UN Security Council. This is an abuse of power and an infringement upon the sovereignty of our country.”
North Korea’s foreign ministry, in a statement issued soon after the sanctions in response to a nuclear test in September were announced, warned of tough countermeasures, but didn’t say what they might be.
“Sanctions will inevitably escalate tensions,” the ministry said.
Han said North Korea was being unfairly singled out.
He said: “If a nuclear test is such a serious issue, why has the UN Security Council never imposed sanctions on the major powers that have carried out so many nuclear tests? And how can anyone understand these sanctions?”
The Security Council voted on the sanctions on Wednesday after months of diplomatic wrangling over how to respond to the September test, North Korea’s fifth and biggest.
The new sanctions target its hard currency revenues by placing a cap on coal exports, cutting them by at least 62 percent or an estimated US$800 million.
The measures ban North Korea’s exports of non-ferrous metals, sanction 11 government officials as well as 10 entities linked to the nuclear program and crack down on Pyongyang’s access to the international banking system.
They even prohibit its export of statues, a source of currency mostly through sales to African nations. And if North Korea fails to comply with UN efforts to stop its nuclear and long-range missile programs, the resolution — for the first time — threatens to suspend UN privileges.
Yesterday, South Korea and Japan announced unilateral sanctions.
South Korea said it blacklisted dozens of North Korean officials and entities and banned South Koreans from having financial dealings with them.
Among them are Choe Ryong Hae and Hwang Pyong So, two of leader Kim Jong Un’s closest associates, and the blacklisted entities include those involved in coal exports and the dispatch of laborers abroad.
The statement said it’ll sanction a China-based company and four of its executives for allegedly assisting financial activities by a North Korean bank sanctioned by the UN.
South Korea said it will also prohibit Seoul-based foreign nuclear and missile experts from re-entering the country if they visit North Korea and commit activities that threaten South Korea’s national interest.
In Tokyo, Japan said it was renewing its sanctions. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga criticized the missile launches and nuclear tests as “a new threat that must not be allowed.”
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