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On August 6, 2017, the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on North Korea that could see the reclusive state's US$3 billion annual export revenue drop by a third. The sanctions, which banned North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood, were aimed at punishing Pyongyang over its two intercontinential ballistic missile tests. Countries were also prohibited from hiring additional North Korean labourers.
- Beijing was urged to use its influence to end the ‘increasingly dangerous military cooperation’ between Moscow and Pyongyang
Pyongyang’s suspected hypersonic ballistic missile test has analysts worried the regime is inflaming tensions to skirt sanctions.
Existing doctrine says Russia may use nuclear weapons in response to nuclear attack or a conventional attack that poses an ‘existential threat’.
Seoul has not directly provided arms to Kyiv, citing a long-standing policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflict.
A new treaty signed between North Korea and Russia provides for “mutual assistance” in case either country faces aggression, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, in an apparent warning to the West.
In a letter, the Russian president vowed to support Pyongyang against ‘US pressure, blackmail and military threats’.
Sun Weidong and Zhang Baoqun will be in Seoul for ‘2+2’ dialogue on Tuesday; Kremlin says Vladimir Putin to visit Pyongyang the same day.
The number of operational nuclear warheads is steadily rising, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The launch became the nuclear-armed North’s latest failure, following two other fiery crashes last year.
At a three-way summit in Seoul, China, Japan and South Korea sought to cooperate on security, and denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, they said in a joint statement.
Pyongyang told Japan it intends to launch the satellite by June 4. Rocket debris could fall near the Korean peninsula and Philippine island of Luzon.
The State Department said American Christina Chapman helped three North Koreans in an ‘illicit telework employment’ scheme that earned US$6.8 million for Pyongyang.
Pyongyang on Monday warned the UK, Canada, Germany, France, New Zealand and Australia to immediately stop their ‘blatant military intervention’ under the pretext of monitoring UN sanctions violations.
Kim Ki-nam helped forge a cult of personality around the Kim dynasty, serving every one of the country’s three leaders since its founding. He has died at the age of 94.
Analysts say the sudden two-tier rise of the warning despite no major events in progress for Seoul could signal precautions against a retaliation over a row on defected diplomats.
The move is in line with Pyongyang’s efforts to attract Iran to an alliance against the US and boost cooperation for mutual benefit, analyst notes.
US Treasury Department accused entities of channelling funds to North Korea’s weapons programmes. It said action was coordinated with South Korea.
In video-link meeting with US representative Jung Pak, China’s envoy Liu Xiaoming says stable peninsula is in the interests of the region and the world.
Jin Guanghua is accused of committing bank fraud in an illegal scheme by North Korea to generate revenue through the purchase and sale of tobacco.
The two pariah states have been forging closer ties in recent months amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and Pyongyang’s continued nuclear weapons development. UN Security Council resolutions ban the export of luxury goods to North Korea.
Dialogue between North and South Korea has given way to fiery rhetoric and mutual threats of destruction. Neither side seems inclined to de-escalate, as the spectre of a second Trump presidency only adds to mounting concerns.
Under biting US sanctions, Iran denies any ambition to develop a nuclear weapons capability.
Reuters spoke to 20 people, including 15 in the eyelash industry, who described a system in which China-based firms import semi-finished products from Kim Jong-un’s closed-off nation, giving it vital currency.
