China and Russia thwart US-led bid to call out North Korea on UN sanctions violations
- Pyongyang’s main suppliers of petroleum products block Security Council committee declaration of cap breach
China and Russia have again blocked a UN Security Council committee from declaring that Pyongyang breached its annual cap on imported refined petroleum products, imposed as part of international sanctions against North Korea.
Two United Nations diplomats said on Tuesday that the Russians and Chinese notified the committee monitoring North Korea’s compliance before the deadline for objections. The Russians and Chinese are the main suppliers of petroleum products to North Korea.
It was a repeat of last July when China and Russia blocked a similar request from the US to get the UN sanctions committee to publicly accuse North Korea of violating the annual quota for refined petroleum products, which are key to the country’s economy.
The United States and 25 other countries have accused North Korea of violating UN sanctions by importing far more than the annual limit of 500,000 barrels of refined petroleum products.
A US-led complaint had asked the sanctions committee to rule that Pyongyang breached the cap and demand an immediate halt to deliveries. It said most of the excess petroleum products were obtained from dozens of illegal ship-to-ship transfers.
