The Security Council passed the resolution on the international sanctions against Pyongyang on November 30 in the wake of the North’s September 9 nuclear test.
It limits North Korea’s coal exports next year to 7.5 million tonnes, or just over US$400 million, down 62 per cent on 2015.
The cap represents a fraction of the North’s current annual exports to China, the isolated country’s sole ally and its main provider of trade and aid.
China imported 1.8 million tonnes of coal worth US$101 million from North Korea in October alone, according to the most recent figures available on the Chinese Customs website. The volume was up nearly 40 per cent year-on-year.
Under previous sanctions, the Security Council authorised the purchase of coal from North Korea provided revenues were not used to finance Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.
However, the UN did not specify any assessment criteria, which allowed Beijing to increase its imports considerably while saying it was acting in good faith.
Between March and October, 24.8 million tonnes of coal was imported, three times the annual limit now allowed by the UN.
Trucks are parked next to a pile of coal on the bank of the Yalu River in Sinuiju, North Korea, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, in March. China has suspended its imports of coal from the nation for three weeks. Photo: Reuters
Although Beijing has traditionally protected Pyongyang diplomatically, believing that Kim Jong-un’s regime is preferable to its collapse, it has grown frustrated by its neighbour’s defiance.
Last week, China’s chief negotiator on Pyongyang’s nuclear programme, Wu Dawei, said China remained opposed to unilateral sanctions against North Korea taken without the approval of the UN Security Council.
Wu said in a meeting with South Korean officials on Friday that the six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear programmes that had been stalled since 2009 should be resumed. The talks involved North and South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia.
“The Chinese side opposes the imposition of sanctions taken outside the framework of the Security Council resolution 2321,” Wu was quoted as saying by the foreign ministry.
China also demands that South Korea “give weight to China’s concerns” about the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile system, which is intended to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, Wu said, according to the ministry.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as:
China halts North Korean coal imports in line with UN sanctions