US urges China: Cut off North Korea’s access to crude

President Trump has threatened ‘additional major sanctions’ against North Korea (‘DPRK’) following a telephone call to Chinese President Xi Jinping over Pyongyang’s launch of a powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (‘ICBM’) on 29 November. DPRK has fired more than 23 missiles in 16 tests in 2017, including three ICBMs, which, it claims, are capable of reaching the US.

Pyongyang’s continued development of both conventional and nuclear weapons technology has led to the ratcheting up of unilateral and multilateral sanctions in recent months. Following its sixth nuclear test in September, the UN imposed its toughest sanctions yet, banning the export of textiles and placing a cap on oil imports into the country.  Commercial joint ventures with North Korean entities were prohibited, as well as the future hire of North Korean workers – who produce a lucrative income stream for the regime.

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting in New York at the end of November to discuss new measures against Pyonygang, in which Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, warned that ‘[I]f war comes, make no mistake, the North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed.’

She also had a message for China, advising it as Pyongyang’s neighbour and chief trading partner, to ‘cut off access to the oil… we need China to do more.’ Haley claimed that President Trump had called President Xi Jinping to tell him that ‘[W]e had arrived at the point where China must cut off the oil from North Korea.’

‘China must show leadership and follow through. China can do this on its own,’ she said, ‘or we can take the oil situation into our own hands.’