The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 2270 imposing sweeping sanctions on North Korea, on Wed. March 2.
This resolution “contains the toughest set of sanctions imposed by the Security Council in more than two decades,” according to the statement issued by the U.S. State Dept. The resolution is the fifth thus far imposed against North Korea for its belligerent actions in pursuing its development of nuclear weapons.
UNSC Resolution 2270 includes mandatory comprehensive inspections of all cargo leaving and heading for North Korea. It also bans all weapons trade with North Korea and increased the number of people and entities blacklisted for trade with Pyongyang.
There are also restrictions on non-weapons trade with North Korea, including a ban on the import of luxury watches, Jet Skis and snowmobiles valued at greater than $2,000. No comment.
A substantial source of North Korean revenue is derived from mineral exports, and there will be restrictions or outright bans on those as well, including on gold, iron ore and titanium.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power explained the development of the sanctions contained in the resolution:
North Korea generates a significant share of the money it uses to fuel its nuclear and ballistic missile programs by mining natural resources – often exploiting workers in slave-like conditions – and selling those resources abroad. For example, it is estimated that the DPRK brings in approximately a billion dollars a year in coal exports, roughly a third of the revenue it earns from exports, and it brings in at least 200 million dollars a year in iron ore exports. That is why the resolution we have adopted today limits, and in some instances bans outright, North Korea’s exports of specific natural resources, making it tougher for the government to get the money it needs to keep funding its illicit weapons programs.
Until today, in many countries around the world, inspectors required information providing reasonable grounds to inspect cargo coming into and going out of North Korea. So the DPRK and its suppliers took the ballistic missile parts, nuclear technology, and other illicit items they needed to build weapons of mass destruction, and they buried them deep in otherwise unsuspicious loads on airplanes, ships, and trucks coming into the country. The DPRK used similar tactics to hide the illegal items it was exporting – such as weapons, drugs, and counterfeit goods – which it used to generate a significant amount of additional income. That is why, under this resolution, cargo going into and coming out of North Korea will be treated as suspicious, and countries will be required to inspect it, whether it goes by air, land, or sea. This is hugely significant.
U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed the passage of the resolution, calling it a “firm, united, and appropriate response by the international community to the DPRK’s recent provocations that flagrantly violated multiple Security Council resolutions. Today, the international community, speaking with one voice, has sent Pyongyang a simple message: North Korea must abandon these dangerous programs and choose a better path for its people.”
Obama reminded North Korea’s leadership that he has “consistently said that the DPRK would face consequences for its actions.”