China Issues New Sanctions On NK To Limit Imports On Oil, Textiles

Jermaine Castillo

The importing of North Korean textiles has been banned altogether by Beijing in compliance with the UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution, and new shipments are now forbidden.

China will soon begin restricting oil exports to North Korea, the country's Commerce Ministry announced Saturday, marking a major step by Pyongyang's top ally and trading partner to further isolate the country from the global economy.

The Commerce Ministry said the exports of refined petroleum to Pyongyang will be limited to 2 million barrels per year and sales of liquefied natural gas banned outright, effective January 1, 2018.

But Cheng also said that Beijing understands that economic sanctions alone "will not be able to persuade Pyongyang to give up their programmes".

Refined oil exports to North Korea from all United Nations members is capped at 500,000 barrels from October 1 to the end of the year and two million barrels annually from January 1, 2018.

China also made a decision to limit exports of refined petroleum products to North Korea from October 1 in line with the export ceiling imposed under the UN Security Council Resolution No. 2375.

China said on Saturday it will ban exports of some petroleum products to North Korea, as well as imports of textiles from the isolated North, to comply with a United Nations Security Council resolution.

China will suspend such exports once the total exports approaches the ceiling, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Japan's Kyodo News said Friday that China's four major banks have frozen all bank accounts of North Korean firms and individuals in Liaoning Province, the region where 70 percent of North Korea-China trade pass through.

"Donald Trump mocked Kim as a "Rocket Man" on a" suicide mission" at the UN General Assembly. Yet in early September, after North Korea conducted its sixth and biggest nuclear test, it called the prospect of a full oil embargo "rash and extreme".

President Donald Trump has put China at the forefront of USA efforts to rein in North Korea's nuclear program.

In July, Beijing and Moscow proposed a "double-freeze" plan, which would see North Korea suspend its missile launches and nuclear tests in exchange for a halt in joint US-South Korea military drills.