The UN Security Council has approved new sanctions on North Korea that will restrict oil supplies vital for Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programmes, and further tighten the noose on the rogue regime.
The council unanimously adopted a US-drafted resolution that also orders the repatriation of North Korean workers abroad and earning revenue for Kim Jong-un’s regime.
Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, welcomed the resolution.
"The international community has shown that it is united in its condemnation of North Korea’s reckless behaviour," he said. “This resolution takes vital steps to reduce the export revenues that the North Korean regime diverts away from its people to fund its illegal nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
“These further measures adopted show Kim Jong-Un that he has the choice of two paths. To either continue the current path of provocation and isolation or to put the wellbeing of the North Korean people first. We urge North Korea to change its course.”
On the eve of the vote it was unclear whether China and Russia, trading allies of the regime, could be won over by the US. But Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, convinced her colleagues and Friday’s vote was seen as sending a strong, united message to Mr Kim.
Mrs Haley said the sanctions sent an "unambiguous message to Pyongyang that further defiance will invite further punishments and isolation".
Matthew Rycroft, the British ambassador to the UN, said that the ability of all council members to come together on the North Korea issue showed they are “seeing the bigger interests we all have.”
He said the new measures “tighten the grip and make it even harder for the regime to fund the illegal programmes, and at the same time insure we don’t make life harder for the poor people of North Korea.”
Francois Delattre, France’s ambassador to the UN, added: "The unity of the Security Council says a lot about the fact that the threat coming from North Korea is getting more serious after each passing day."
Under the terms of the sanctions, deliveries of petrol products will be capped at 500,000 barrels a year, and crude oil at four million barrels a year.
That means that the total imports allowed has been cut by 89 per cent since the summer.
Furthermore, it marks a reduction in exports allowed under previous sanctions, imposed on September 11, by 75 per cent.
All North Korean nationals working abroad will have to return home within 24 months, restricting a vital source of foreign currency.
The US estimates that the North Korean regime earns over $500 million each year from heavily taxing the nearly 100,000 overseas North Korean workers, with as many as 50,000 working in China and 30,000 in Russia.
The deadline for return, however, was extended from the 12 months proposed by the US to 24, in response to Chinese and Russian concerns.
And there will also be a ban on exports of North Korean goods, such as machinery and electrical equipment.
"This resolution bites: it strengthens restrictions on petroleum products and workers in particular," said Mr Delattre.
"In other words, this resolution targets key players at the heart of the regime, aiming at changing the regime calculus."
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The resolution is seen as a move towards the final stages of diplomacy.
However, there are still some further steps to take, as it does not permit countries to hail and board North Korean ships in international waters, which the Trump administration proposed earlier this year. That would be the most draconian measure, because it would enable the United States Navy and its Pacific allies to create a cordon around the country, though Pentagon officials say it would also carry a high risk of triggering a firefight between North Korea and foreign navies.
“President Trump has used just about every lever you can use, short of starving the people of North Korea to death, to change their behavior,” said Tom Bossert, homeland security adviser, on Tuesday.
“And so we don’t have a lot of room left here to apply pressure to change their behaviour.”
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