After the unprecedented summit meetings held between the President of the United States Donald trump and the head of North Korea Kim Jong-UN, the international sanctions against North Korea is back in focus.
In the past year, the United States implemented a number of UN resolutions, resulting in greatly increased pressure on the economy of North Korea in response to repeated test by Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programs.
China, which accounts for the bulk of external trade of North Korea, said it will impose sanctions, despite skepticism from some analysts.
After the summit on Tuesday China hinted that the easing of sanctions may be taken after the meeting, trump and Kim in Singapore.
Military exercises the U.S. and South Korea will not! They were rejected by President Donald trump at the summit, U.S. – North Korea. He said that “negotiations with Pyongyang are conducted in good faith.” And he even said that at one time will definitely go there for a visit.
“The relevant UN resolutions say that, based on how North Korea complied with the resolution, the sanctions can be adjusted accordingly, including the suspension or cancellation of the appropriate measures,” said foreign Ministry spokesman China Geng Shuang.
At a press conference in Singapore, trump said that the sanctions will be lifted only “when we are assured that nuclear weapons is no longer the main factor.” He acknowledged that it may take a lot of time.
Until then these measures will continue to exert pressure on the economy of North Korea.
A ban on the export
UN sanctions aimed at exports to North Korea fall under the ban of sale of coal, iron ore, textiles and seafood.
According to the U.S. government, all the major export industry of the country is now isolated, roughly a reduction of annual income should be about $3 billion.
According to reports, the Kim regime is trying to evade restrictions. The UN report in February noted that last year the country exported coal and other prohibited goods at $200 million, avoiding sanctions.
Restrictions on the sale of fuel
The administration of the trump sought to deprive North Korea of fuel which it needs to maintain its economy.
As a result of the UN sanctions that had frozen the volume of crude oil that the country could import at the level of 4 million barrels per year, it reduced the amount of oil that it could buy, prohibited the supply of natural gas.
But the measures have gone far wrong, as the US demanded China to stop oil supplies.
Experts predicted that will need some time to reduce the supply of fuel to harm the regime, because the North Korean military and nuclear program will be able to use the reserves.
North Korea apparently also uses the overload from ship to ship at sea to be able to get oil, despite UN sanctions, prohibiting this practice.
The US government has announced new measures aimed at countering the North Korean shipping in February.
Financial isolation
The US government has spent years trying to cut off North Korea from the global financial system, not allowing American banks to carry out direct or indirect transactions with the country.
It sanctioned various North Korean banks, as well as Chinese and Russian legal entities and individuals.
In September, trump gave the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin the ability to block access to the U.S. financial system and freeze the assets of any company or individual doing business with North Korea.
Some experts believed that this could lead to the punishment of high-ranking Chinese Bank involved in transactions with North Korea that will become a serious signal and increase tensions in relation to Beijing.
The administration trump never went as far in his criticism of some analysts.
In September, China has ordered its financial institutions to take a number of steps for the implementation of past UN resolutions.
This includes the cessation of business with sanctioned individuals and companies in North Korea. Employees of a number of major Chinese banks said that will no longer open new accounts for any of the citizens of North Korea.
