Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Doubts grow over effectiveness of UN sanctions on North Korea
The United Nations Security Council meets to discuss a ballistic missile test by North Korea, Wednesday, at U.N. headquarters. AP-Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
By Nam Hyun-woo
The ability of the United Nations Security Council to contain North Korea's missile and nuclear provocations is being questioned due to repeated failures of sanctions to tame the regime's belligerence.
As the council continues to remain deadlocked on further sanctions as permanent members China and Russia drag their heels, calls are growing for South Korea, the U.S. and Japan to consider unilateral or joint sanctions on the North to achieve better results.
On Oct. 5, the U.N. Security Council held a session to discuss how to handle North Korea's ballistic missile launch over Japan a day earlier, but ended without reaching any agreement on the next step as its permanent members _ the U.S., the U.K., China, Russia and France _ remained miles apart. Each of them has the power to veto a resolution.
The U.S. warned that the council's inability to reach a consensus will end up proving North Korea's resilience to foreign pressure. But Russia blamed the U.S. for prompting North Korea's actions, while China claimed that the real issue is a confrontation between Washington and Pyongyang.
As the council failed again to adopt a resolution condemning the recent provocations, Pyongyang launched two short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday and another two on Sunday. The North has fired 12 missiles since Sept. 23, when the U.S. aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan entered South Korean waters to take part in military exercises.
As the council remains incapable of handling the North's saber-rattling actions, South Korea is considering imposing its own sanctions on Pyongyang.
“The government is considering imposing independent sanctions, as part of seeking a strong response to the North's anticipated seventh nuclear weapon test or other serious provocations,” South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lim Soo-suk said at a press briefing on Thursday. “However, we will consider the content of the sanctions, the timing of the announcement and other details, based on the North's level of provocations.”
This is not the first time that South Korea has been dropping hints at adopting its own sanctions against the Kim Jong-un regime. Multiple senior officials at the Yoon Suk-yeol administration have suggested imposing independent sanctions on the North.
The U.S. already sanctioned two people and three firms from Singapore, Taiwan and the Marshall Islands on Friday accused of helping North Korea procure fuel, while Japan's upper house has adopted a resolution urging Tokyo to impose independent sanctions against the North.
A TV screen showing a news program reporting North Korea's missile launch through file footage, is seen at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday. North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles Sunday. AP-Yonhap
However, experts are skeptical about the effectiveness of independent sanctions, because the ability of existing international economic sanctions has been questioned when it comes to impairing North Korea's ability to fund its missile programs.
“The sanctions themselves are hardly dealing any serious damage to the North's economic system or financing cycle, but they are rather aimed at labeling countries having companies or individuals who made transactions with North Korea,” said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
“Independent sanctions imposed by the U.S. or the European Union are deemed rather effective given the U.S.' prowess in the international economy, and the North has long been making trade efforts to European countries. However, it is hard to say that of South Korea or Japan will have the same impact,” he added.
Against this backdrop, calls are also growing for the U.S. to consider a secondary boycott on companies assumed to be trading with North Korea. But Hong said this is a difficult choice, because most of those companies are assumed to be Chinese, which could further aggravate the U.S.-China rivalry.