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| China-Japan-Koreas | ||
| U.N., U.S. move to increase pressure on Norks | ||
| 2009-07-21 | ||
| UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council neared agreement on Wednesday on North Korean firms and individuals to be added to a blacklist for involvement in Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs, diplomats said. Japanese Ambassador Yukio Takasu told reporters "we are very close" to agreement on the expanded sanctions list. Diplomats said a council committee that has been discussing the issue for a month was on target to meet a weekend deadline for completing its task and could do so as early as Thursday. As diplomats put the finishing touches on expanding U.N. sanctions, U.S. officials said they had succeeded in increasing international awareness of methods North Korea uses to disguise its trade in illicit weapons as legal business transactions. "North Korea engages in a variety of deceptive financial practices that are intended to obscure the true nature of their transactions," said a senior Obama administration official. A U.S. team is traveling to key world capitals to warn governments and banks that North Korean practices make it "virtually impossible to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate business," the official said in Washington. Firms and governments in China, Hong Kong and other places North Korea does business were taking seriously the U.S. warnings about Pyongyang's practice of using front companies and unusually large cash transactions, he added. The official said the goal was to bring scrutiny and thwart suspicious activities, not to hit all North Korean trade. Humanitarian aid would not be affected.
North Korea's annual legitimate trade is estimated at about $3.8 billion, with China being its largest partner with exchanges of about $2.8 billion a year. Previous U.N. sanctions have not dented trade. Beijing has been reluctant to cut trade, a lifeline to its impoverished neighbor, fearing it could cause a collapse of the North's government and lead to chaos on its border.
The steps described by the U.S. official were in addition to the U.N. measures and targeted counterfeiting, narcotics trafficking and other North Korean activities in addition to illicit weapons proliferation, officials said. "There's a broad consensus, including by China, that this is the right way to go and I don't think the Chinese would take this stuff lightly," said a second U.S. official. The official said there was a growing international consensus that tightening sanctions on North Korean entities is "the best chance we have to influence their calculations." "We're confident of an outcome which will be commensurate with DPRK (North Korea) actions and will be effective and will significantly improve the (sanctions) regime," said one Western diplomat. | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 ION TOPIX > OSCE CO-CHAIR [Minsk group] SEES RISK OF WAR/CLASH IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH. Bot oh boy, first CHIN's GLOBE-TROTTING "GIANT DUSTCLOUD [size of FRANCE], now this. You just knew FRANCE was involved somewhere, somehow! * SAME > TURKEY: PRO-DEMOCRACY FORCES FIGHTING FOR THEIR EXISTENCE [ includ CAPITALISM + FREE MARKETS]; + IS MYANMAR GOING NUCLEAR WITH NORTH KOREA'S HELP?: + [ADP Party Leader]AZERBAIJAN WAS PREPARING FOR WAR WITH ARMENIA SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH GEORGIA??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-07-21 23:30 |
| #3 We stepped up pressure? Oh, do you mean Hillary apologized and then followed it with more apologies? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2009-07-21 17:36 |
| #2 To get China to cut off trade and assistance you have to prod the Norks to do things China doesn't like. Like supplying the Uighurs? |
| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2009-07-21 10:12 |
| #1 Let them eat yellowcake. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2009-07-21 03:07 |