The United States wanted the resolution to limit permitted oil imports to North Korea from four to three million barrels a year, ban tobacco and tobacco products from the DPRK, or further restrict North Korean exports to the world. They also wanted to limit IT imports to the DPRK, which was supposed to reduce the North Korean regime’s ability to operate in cyberspace. According to the US authorities, the DPRK obtains funds, among other things, through blackmail on the Internet or the theft of cryptocurrencies.
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The Security Council imposed sanctions on the DPRK following its first nuclear test in 2006 and has tightened it over the years in an effort to curtail North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and limit its funding opportunities. Some diplomats fear that after Thursday’s veto of two permanent members, it will now be difficult for the Security Council to keep up the pressure on existing sanctions, AFP said.
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Shortly after US President Joe Biden’s visit to Asia, North Korea launched new missile launches this week, including a likely intercontinental ballistic missile. Washington and Seoul have warned that Pyongyang could soon conduct a seventh nuclear test, the first in five years.
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A step away from peace?
According to the AFP, the Chinese ambassador to the UN, Chang Jun, said after the vote that the American resolution was a step “away from dialogue and peace”. He said before the vote that Beijing did not believe that new sanctions would help resolve the current situation and that a coercive resolution would only worsen the situation on the Korean Peninsula. He said Washington and Pyongyang should resume dialogue.
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Several US allies regretted in the corridors that Washington insisted on voting, knowing that China and Russia would veto the resolution. An unnamed UN ambassador told AFP that it was “worse for the Americans to do nothing” and let the North Korean tests continue without a reaction than to let China and Russia veto the resolution.
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