North Korea Could Lose $1 Billion in Exports Under U.N. Measure
The penalties were contained in a draft Security Council resolution
that American diplomats have been working on since North Korea launched its first successful intercontinental ballistic missile a month ago, demonstrating an ability to attack the United States homeland.
4, 2017
The United States hit North Korea at the United Nations on Friday with a proposed set of unprecedented economic penalties,
punctuated by a one-third cut in its export revenue, to punish the isolated country for its missile and nuclear tests.
He called it "the most impactful and expansive set of sanctions to date." The draft resolution, which "condemns in the strongest terms" the July 4
and July 28 missile tests, would also place new limits on North Korea’s joint ventures and Foreign Trade Bank, and prohibit the country from sending more workers to overseas jobs — another important source of revenue for the impoverished nation of 25 million people.
The North has also threatened to punish the United States
and its other perceived foes — South Korea and Japan — with a "nuclear sword of justice." The American-drafted resolution, which was circulated on Friday to all 15 Security Council members, is scheduled to be put to a vote on Saturday afternoon.
"North Korea has always been able to find loopholes." The United States put forward the resolution three days after Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson offered to
open negotiations with the North Koreans by assuring "the security they seek" as well as new economic opportunities — if the North abandoned its nuclear weapons.
American intelligence assessments have generally concluded
that the North Korean leader has no incentive to negotiate with the United States until his country emphatically shows that it could arm a missile with a nuclear weapon that could reach the American mainland.