New UN resolution falls short of bringing N. Korea to its knees

Fuel embargo excluded; Kim Jong-un not on target list

By Yi Whan-woo

The new U.N. Security Council (UNSC) sanctions imposed on North Korea will be successful in plugging loopholes of the previous resolutions, analysts said Sunday.

However, some experts raised doubts over their effectiveness, citing China’s failure to impose a fuel embargo on Pyongyang and the absence of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the new sanctions list.

They said the Resolution 2371, passed Saturday, still may fall short of preventing Pyongyang from mastering intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology because it will take time before the toughest-to-date resolution has a financial impact on the recalcitrant state.

“The new resolution is expected to deal a blow to North Korea,” said Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong Global University. “The UNSC did a good job this time in filling the loopholes of the past sanctions exploited by Pyongyang.”

Resolution 2371 imposes a complete ban on exports of coal, while the previous sanctions allowed the North to sell limited amounts for livelihood purposes.

The new sweeping measures also ban North Korea’s other primary exports, including iron, lead and seafood products.

Citing a statement from the office of U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, Yang Uk, a senior research fellow at the Korea Defense and Security Forum, said, “I agree with the idea that sanctions will slash the cash-strapped regime’s annual export revenue of $3 billion by more than a third.”

“The UNSC has effectively pressed North Korea with the message that it should return to the negotiation table.” Yang added.

Kim Yeol-su, an international politics professor at Sungshin Women’s University, said he gives credit for banning countries from giving additional permits to North Korean workers whose wages are taken away by the regime to fund its nuclear and missile programs.

“There was no doubt that cash earned by those slave laborers was a major source of hard currency for North Korea and I’m glad that the UNSC dealt with the problem at last,” he said.

Meanwhile, experts said they find it regretful that an oil embargo was not included in the new sanctions due to objections from China and Russia.

“The Kim regime can survive as long it gets a crude oil supply from China,” said An Chan-il, the head of the World Institute for North Korea Studies. “North Korea could collapse within three months if the oil pipeline was shut down, so China and Russia may have though it was too radical.”

Other experts echoed a similar view.

“Resolution 2371 was aimed at curbing North Korea’s nuclear and ICBM programs, but I’m doubtful about such a plan,” Park said.

He expects that it will take up to a year for the sanctions to have a “very big financial impact” as claimed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

“And considering North Korea’s faster-than-expected development of ICBMs, it may be able to fully master the relevant technology by then,” he said.

Yang agreed, saying, “It will take several quarters before North Korea runs out of cash.”

“The money it currently has may be enough to complete developing ICBMs,” he said.

An said not blacklisting Kim among the list of four entities and nine individuals was another “fly in the ointment.”

“Kim is in charge of the development of weapons of mass destruction and he should have been blamed for his crimes this time,” he said.