A few days ago, the UN Security Council introduced new sanctions against the DPRK. Members of the United Nations Security Council voted for new sanctions unanimously. Restrictive and prohibitive measures were a UN response to the launch in July of Kim Jong-un of a ballistic missile.
The Hwaseon-14 ballistic missiles, believed to be intercontinental in the United States, South Korea and Japan. Russian military experts talk about medium-range ballistic missiles. North Korea itself, after both tests, announced successful launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The essence of the sanctions: UN member states no longer have the right to export iron and iron ore, coal and lead, as well as seafood from the DPRK. UN member states are prohibited from increasing the number of workers from the DPRK in their territories and creating new joint ventures with North Korea. It is forbidden to invest capital in such enterprises created earlier. In addition, the sanctions particularly affected several individuals associated with the development of a nuclear program.
A resolution against the DPRK was developed in the United States. It is believed that its signing was a compromise between the United States and Russia. However, the compromise was manifested mainly from Moscow.
Russia and China agreed with the ban on the export from North Korea of a number of commodities and minerals (listed above), with sanctions against the joint venture and with other measures, including the fact that the accounts of the Bank of Foreign Trade of the DPRK will be "frozen."
Fulfillment of the new restrictions in full would have allowed Pyongyang to reduce its annual foreign exchange earnings by a third. Now such revenues are now about 3 billion.
Refusal to attempt to change the North Korean regime of the United States refused include in the UN Security Council resolution. This is suggestive of the sad fate of Kim Jong-un.
Something Washington gave way to Moscow: the White House agreed not to impose restrictions on oil supplies to the DPRK. Moscow is not interested in such restrictions, for which trade in raw materials is budget-forming.
For readiness to meet the White House, the American president thanked the Kremlin. “The President is grateful to China and Russia for their cooperation in ensuring the adoption of this resolution,” the White House press secretary Sarah Sanders quotes the statement. "NTV". “He will continue to work with allies and partners to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea in order to end its threatening and destabilizing behavior.”
“The threatening and destabilizing behavior” of the DPRK immediately manifested itself in its response to the gentlemen sanctioners.
Pyongyang has declared its readiness to move on to “physical actions”, which is explicitly stated in the statement of the Korean Peace Committee for the Asia-Pacific Region, made public by the Korean Central Telegraph Agency.
The UN Sovebet's resolution itself is called “a gangster action that seeks to violate sovereignty and the rights to existence and development of the DPRK. "It will be followed by material measures of justice of the army and the people for their protection", - quotes the statement of the committee RIA News".
"They should be aware that the DPRK will ruthlessly take strategic steps, including physical actions, mobilizing all national power," the Pyongyang statement said.
“We completely and firmly reject the recent resolution on sanctions prepared by the gangster imperialists led by the United States in collusion with their blind followers,” the message text quoted. "RT" with reference to the ctac.
Pyongyang also believes that the document adopted in the UN Security Council is “criminal and illegal”, and the Security Council itself has become a “tool of evil, infected by incredible prejudices and injustice”.
“We believe that this“ resolution ”is a waste of paper, and absurd calls for its execution are meaningless shuddering of air.”
How will the new sanctions affect the life of the DPRK? And do states implement these sanctions in practice?
“Sanctions, of course, are tough, but they are unlikely to be fully implemented for a number of reasons,” said "Free Press" Evgeny Kim, Leading Researcher, Center for Korean Studies, Institute of Far Eastern Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences.
“The new sanctions are aimed at reducing the possibility of receiving foreign currency from abroad. In particular, the US representative to the UN Nikki Haley said that the sanctions will reduce the currency from 3 billion to 2 billion dollars a year. This is not so much - the expert believes. - Besides, this is not the whole trade volume of North Korea. And in general, the DPRK, thanks to self-reliance, has learned to survive under external constraints. ”
There is another question to the sanctioners: do the Americans think that the DPRK is improving nuclear weapon and builds rocket technology with overseas components? "It is known that two years ago, when the northerners launched a satellite, and the first stage of the rocket fell in the neutral waters of the Yellow Sea, the southerners caught it, studied it and concluded that all the parts there are North Korean production," the expert recalled.
Sanctions, in theory, should beat on the leadership of the state, and not lead to a deterioration of the situation of citizens. “It seems that the Americans thought that the North Korean elite loves foreign cognacs, loves to have fun, and try to prevent it from doing so. Not for nothing, they banned the supply to the DPRK of equipment for skiers, for equestrian sports, pleasure boats, ”says a researcher.
“But this is a mistake. I was at the racetrack in Pyongyang and made sure that all this is North Koreans, and all locally made. Not only the elite come there, but relatively prosperous people, and ride horses for a small fee. They have an international ski complex, golf courses, beer festivals, air shows and even tank biathlon. That is, Kim Jong-un is a pragmatic person and did everything so that the North Korean elite did not dream about abroad. ”
It turns out that sanctions hit on grain purchases: “The currency that comes from abroad is partially used to buy grain abroad. It is still a bit lacking in the DPRK. Therefore, the restrictions imposed relate to the most ordinary trade. "
Northerners have long proposed that they themselves suspend rocket tests, but in return, the Americans should suspend joint military exercises with South Korea. However, the United States refused, reminds the expert. In his opinion, these major exercises are connected with a kind of “operational plan 5015”, with the help of which Kim Jong-un will be overthrown.
“This plan involves, firstly, the destruction of the leadership of North Korea, in particular, its leader Kim Jong-un. For some reason, they believe that everything in Korea rests on it. As we have many believe that everything rests on Putin. And the second goal of the plan is the elimination of all nuclear and rocket production and missile bases. Although stationary bases there, it seems, no. Recent launches were carried out with mobile chassis. This is all seen. Accordingly, the Americans, not knowing exactly where the missiles are, will hit the squares. ”
As for the position of Russia, which voted for the resolution, it was commented on by Konstantin Asmolov, candidate historical Sci., Leading Researcher at the Center for Korean Studies at the Institute for the Far East of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the International Educational and Scientific Center for Korean Studies at the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Moscow State University.
"Any serious conflict on the Korean Peninsula hurts our country, even if none of the American precision weapons fly into Russian territory," the scientist said in a journal "Russia in global politics".
The expert doubts that the EMERCOM system of the Far Eastern region will effectively withstand the consequences associated with the costs of war, which may include refugee flows and nuclear pollution.
“Certainly,” the scientist writes, “Russia does not consider North Korneya a nuclear power, condemns its ambitions and strictly adheres to UN Security Council resolutions. At the same time, unilateral sanctions or a secondary boycott are unacceptable for us, as well as attempts to deliver economic blows not on the actual nuclear missile program, but on the standard of living of the population in the hope of "rocking the boat." Russia, like the PRC, is against the military presence of extra-regional forces in northeast Asia and its buildup under the pretext of countering the DPRK nuclear missile programs, including the deployment of the THAAD complexes. ” However, according to Asmolov, Russia doesn’t have many opportunities to influence, since Moscow’s political and economic involvement in the DPRK’s affairs is significantly limited.
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After the new sanctions, the regime of Kim Jong-un was left all alone. If it is necessary in the modern global world to talk about isolation, then its examples are not Russia at all or, say, Iran and Syria, but North Korea.
The White House said earlier that the DPRK is a threat to US national security. In addition, Washington is considering again to include the DPRK in the American list of sponsors of terrorism, from which this state was removed in 2008, thanks to the progress achieved in the denuclearization talks. According to Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Susan Thornton, the question of re-listing North Korea is being considered right now.
In view of the absolute reluctance to seek compromise, the US administration will continue to insist on pressure on the DPRK.
Observed and commented on Oleg Chuvakin
- especially for topwar.ru
- especially for topwar.ru