The United States is seeking United Nations authorization to use military force to board and seize North Korean smuggling vessels on the high seas, dramatically escalating the Trump administration’s nuclear standoff with the hermit kingdom, according to a draft resolution obtained by Foreign Policy.
The push for a green light for military action was included in a sweeping U.S. draft Security Council resolution that would ban Pyongyang’s export of oil, liquid gas and textiles, and forbid the employment of North Korean laborers, who are required to send home a big chunk of their earnings. The draft would also hit North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, his government and the ruling Worker’s Party with sanctions.
The initiative is likely to face tough pushback from Russia and China, who have both been pressing the administration to resolve its difference with Pyongyang through negotiations. In a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Vladivostok , Russian leader Vladimir Putin said that his government firmly opposes the imposition of an oil embargo on North Korea. “We should not act out of emotions and push North Korea into a dead end,” Putin said, according South Korean reporters cited by The New York Times. “We must act with calm and avoid steps that could raise tensions.”
The 13-page draft condemns North Korea’s Sept. 2 test of its most powerful nuclear explosion and its “flagrant disregard” of numerous previous Security Council resolutions that prohibit Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile activities. North Korea, the draft states, “shall immediately suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile program and. . .immediately abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear nuclear programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.”
The resolution would authorize member states, including the United States, to “use all necessary measures” to “interdict and inspect” cargo vessels that have been designated as sanctions violators by the U.N. Security Council. It would also empower a U.N. Security Council sanctions committee to designate vessels for “non-consensual inspections.”
Security Council diplomats say that Russia and China have both been briefed on the draft resolution, but have not expressed support. On Wednesday, the United States distributed the text to all fifteen members of the council.
(c) 2017, Foreign Policy · Colum Lynch
{Matzav.com}
