MOSCOW – Russia and China on Tuesday blocked an American initiative thataimed to halt fuel deliveries to North Korea, which Washington accuses ofexceeding its annual ceiling for 2019, diplomatic sources said.
Moscow and Beijing said more time was needed to study the US request, whichwas backed by 25 UN members including Japan, France and Germany, accordingto the sources.
A week ago, the United States, in a report, accused North Korea ofbreaching the United Nations-imposed ceiling on fuel imports by carryingout dozens of ship-to-ship transfers.
The cap on fuel imports is among a series of tough sanctions adopted by theUN Security Council in response to North Korea’s ballistic missile andnuclear tests.
The United States insists that “maximum pressure” from the sanctions mustremain on North Korea until it agrees to dismantle its weapons program.
Washington had asked that a United Nations sanctions committee rule thatthe annual cap of 500,000 barrels had been exceeded and order all countriesto halt fuel deliveries.
Countries on the sanctions committee, including Russia and China, had untilTuesday to raise objections to the request to cut off fuel shipments toNorth Korea.
The issue “should be decided… on the basis of solid and credible factsand through abundant discussion and study,” said Chinese foreign ministryspokesman Lu Kang at a press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.
The relevant parties should “do more things that are conducive to easingthe situation… and push forward the political settlement of the KoreanPeninsula issue,” he added.
The US and Japan have documented at least eight illegal ship-to-shiptransfers of fuel involving North Korea-flagged tankers, according to thereport obtained by AFP.
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An additional 70 instances of fuel deliveries at sea were detected by theUnited States between January and April, although the volume of fuelunloaded from the ships was not known.
“The United States and its partners remain gravely concerned about thedegree of UN Security Council resolution violations that are occurring inrelation to North Korea’s import of refined petroleum products,” the reportsaid.
According to diplomats, the North Koreans are masters at concealing shipsvia false flags or false documents to hide their use for the benefit ofPyongyang.
The United States last year accused North Korea of exceeding the quota onfuel imports through illegal ship transfers, but Russia and China raisedquestions about the data and no action was taken.
This year, Washington began raising its concerns about thesanctions-busting with Beijing and Moscow weeks ago, arguing that withoutenforcement, the cap on fuel imports will be “completely meaningless,” acouncil diplomat said earlier.
Over the past year US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader KimJong Un have held two summits, but the second meeting, held in Vietnam,ended abruptly when the two failed to agree on what the North would bewilling to give up in exchange for sanctions relief.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in called last week for Trump and Kim tomeet again soon, saying a prolonged impasse could weaken their willingnessto pursue dialogue on the Korean peninsula. -APP/AFP
