photo source, EPA
South Korea, the United States and Japan later announced their own sanctions against North Korea’s continued ballistic missile launches. The South Korean government said, “It shows the three countries’ strong and united will to respond severely to North Korea’s nuclear and missile development.”
After North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) believed to be the “Hwasong-17” on the 18th, the international community’s pressure on North Korea seems to be intensifying. Notably, the three countries of Korea, the United States and Japan pulled out their own sanctions charter when the United Nations Security Council was unable to properly perform its sanctions function against North Korea due to the veto exercise by China and Russia.
Earlier, on the 29th of last month, on the fifth anniversary of declaring the completion of the nuclear force, North Korea referred to the ICBM as “a creation of self-reliance both in name and in reality” and showed “how proud it is “.
On November 29, 2017, North Korea declared the completion of its state nuclear force after the launch of the “Hwasong-15” class ICBM.
US-France “strong condemnation of North Korea’s provocations”
US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron strongly condemned North Korea’s ballistic missile provocation.
In a joint statement released after their summit at the White House on the 1st (local time), the two leaders said, “North Korea’s unprecedented number of illegal ballistic missile tests this year violates multiple resolutions of the Council of security of the United Nations and promotes peace in the region.” and pose a threat to stability,” he said.
He also stressed that the two countries “have agreed to continue working together to address these violations by North Korea in the United Nations Security Council.”
We also agreed to jointly respond to China’s challenges and threats.
“The two leaders agreed to continue coordinating concerns regarding China’s challenge to the international order, including human rights issues,” the statement said.
On the 22nd of last month (local time), China exercised its veto power over the discussions on further sanctions at the United Nations Security Council held in New York.
South Korea, the United States and Japan decide independent sanctions
On the 2nd (Korean time), the United States, South Korea and Japan began to successively decide their policy of sanctions against North Korea.
First, the United States drew the sword. The Biden administration has designated three North Korean Labor Party officials involved in the development of North Korean weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missiles as additional targets for sanctions early this morning Korean time.
Subsequently, South Korea also designated 8 individuals and 7 institutions involved in North Korea’s nuclear and missile development and sanctions evasion against North Korea as the subject of independent sanctions placed on the sanctions list.
In this regard, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the 2nd: “It shows the strong and united will of the three countries to respond severely to North Korea’s nuclear and missile development.”
Furthermore, he stressed, “it is also significant that countries with similar positions, including South Korea, the United States and Japan, increase the effectiveness of sanctions by designating targets for independent sanctions in an overlapping and overlapping manner.”
In fact, the three North Korean Labor Party leaders the US Treasury Department announced the same day were the ones the European Union (EU) independently placed on its sanctions list last April.
Among them, Jeon Il-ho, chairman of the party committee of the Academy of Defense Sciences, and Yu Jin, former head of the party’s ammunition industry department, had already been included as targets of independent sanctions against Korea. North by South Korea in 2016.
All 8 people and 7 institutions that South Korea has listed as subject to sanctions are already subject to independent sanctions by the United States.
It is an attempt to suppress as much as possible North Korea’s attempts to evade UN Security Council sanctions through net-like sanctions.
In this regard, Kim Jae-cheon, a professor at Sogang University’s Graduate School of International Studies, told the BBC: “It is a level of warming in preparation for North Korea’s seventh nuclear test.”
In particular, he stressed, “it is also true that there is a hole in the sanctions in a situation where the measures to respond to North Korea’s provocation are very limited”.
Professor Kim said: ‘If a ‘secondary boycott’ (third-party sanctions) is added to the relevant provisions, it can be quite a strong warning. ‘It will be a burden,’ he said.
photo source, Reuters
US President Joe Biden shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping as he met at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia on Nov. 14, 2022.
US ambassador to South Korea “the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is in line with China’s interests”
In the midst of it all, the United States has once again urged China to play a constructive role in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.
US Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg said at a foreign press conference in Seoul on the 1st: “The United States, China and Russia have already joined the United Nations Security Council resolution opposing to North Korea’s nuclear and missile development”.
In particular, he stressed that the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is also in China’s interest, and that China should step up North Korea’s participation in the denuclearization negotiations.
Regarding the redeployment of South Korea’s amassed tactical nuclear weapons, he also stressed that expanded deterrence is included as part of the three countries’ efforts to jointly respond to North Korea’s provocations and threats.
He added that the presence of more than 28,000 USFKs and their families in South Korea is itself a clear example of the US commitment to expanded deterrence.
Earlier, at the first face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the 14th of last month, US President Joe Biden stressed China’s role theory and said that China has an obligation to dissuade the test North Korea’s nuclear missile.
However, China is not expected to be easy to move amid strategic competition between the United States and China.
This is because China is still repeating its claim that the United States is to blame for North Korea’s ICBM launch.
Earlier, at a Security Council meeting on the 21st (local time), Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Zhang Jun said that in order for North Korea to come to the negotiating table on denuclearization, an enabling environment must be created and that existing sanctions against North Korea should be eased.
