By Jun Ji-hye
North Korea faces deepening diplomatic isolation and harsher sanctions including an oil embargo and assets freeze as the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) plans to vote on a draft resolution Monday.
To exert the maximum pressure on the North, the United States wants the UNSC to impose an oil embargo, ban textile exports from the North and the hiring of North Korean laborers abroad, and freeze assets of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to the draft resolution circulated by the U.S.
Among others, cutting off the oil supply would bring a maximum level of sanctions against the Kim regime as it is regarded as a “lifeline” for Pyongyang.
However, China and Russia oppose it.
“A senior U.S. official on Friday night expressed skepticism that either nation would accept anything more stringent than a ban on imports of North Korean textiles,” Reuters reported.
China, the North’s last major ally and a major source of crude oil, has reportedly expressed concerns about the massive instability an oil embargo would bring about in the North.
The Donald Trump administration has warned it would take unilateral actions including military ones should China and Russia not cooperate in the vote. NBC News reported the military options would include “cyberattacks, increased surveillance and intelligence operations.”
U.S. officials have also told China that if Beijing doesn’t take stronger steps against the North, such as cutting off its oil supply, Seoul and Tokyo are likely to pursue their own nuclear weapons programs and Washington will not stop them, NBC News said.
Meanwhile, Mexico, which has sought diplomatic non-interference in the affairs of other countries, has expelled North Korean Ambassador Kim Hyong-gil, claiming the North’s nuclear tests were in violation of international law and UNSC resolutions.
“The Mexican government has today declared the Ambassador of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Mr. Kim Hyong-gil, persona non grata and has given him 72 hours to leave the country,” the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement, Thursday.
The statement added that Mexico absolutely rejected Pyongyang’s nuclear activities that pose a grave threat to the Asian region and the world.
The Philippines, the North’s fifth-largest trading partner, has also suspended trade with the Pyongyang in compliance with the UNSC resolution adopted in August, said the country’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano.
“The UNSC is quite clear so part of this is the economic sanctions and the Philippines will comply,” Cayetano was quoted as saying by the Manila Times.
For their part, leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum have accepted a New Zealand-led proposal to cut off the operation of the North’s fishing and cargo vessels in Pacific waters.
During the forum discussions that wrapped up Friday in Samoa, New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Gerry Brownlee said, “What we’ve said is that we’d be prepared to help with intelligence gathering to identify them so Pacific states can deregister them, and be in compliance with U.N. sanctions regulations,” according to Newshub, a New Zealand news service.
Concerns remain that North Korea may carry out additional provocations in protest of the UNSC’s new resolution and other types of pressure by the international community.
South Korea’s military said Sunday it is closely monitoring movements of North Korean soldiers in preparations for additional provocations, though Pyongyang did not carry out a missile or nuclear test on its founding anniversary, Saturday.
The anniversary marking the establishment of the North’s government in 1948 came about a week after it conducted the sixth nuclear test claiming it successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb to be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of striking targets on the U.S. mainland.