Loading ...Unexpected North Korea Breakthrough Delays Trump Trade War With China (For Now)
A global punitive campaign on North Korea propelled by sharp new U.N. sanctions – amounting to a $1 billion ban on North Korea exports – received a welcome, and unexpected, boost on Sunday from China, the North’s economic lifeline, when Beijing slammed its neighbor for its ongoing missile and nuclear tests.
The Saturday sanctions agreed to unanimously in a 15-0 Security Council vote are aimed at cutting North Korean exports by about $1 billion a year, a move that would hit laborers and fishermen. Existing joint ventures would be prevented from expanding their operations. The new sanctions could cut off roughly one-third of North Korea’s estimated $3 billion in annual exports, ostensibly denying the nation of funds for its weapons programs. All countries are now banned from importing North Korean coal, iron, lead and seafood products, and from letting in more North Korean laborers whose remittances help fund Kim Jong Un’s regime.