The United Nations Security Council will vote Friday on a United States-drafted resolution ramping up sanctions on North Korea by restricting oil supplies vital for Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programs.
The United States presented the draft resolution Thursday following negotiations with China, Pyongyang’s ally, on new punitive measures in response to North Korea’s test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on November 28.
Two council diplomats said China, which supplies most of North Korea’s oil, would back the measure and a unanimous vote was likely at the meeting.
It would be the third raft of sanctions imposed on North Korea in 2017 and comes as the United States and North Korea are showing no signs they are willing to engage in talks to end the crisis on the Korean peninsula.
President Donald Trump has threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea if it attacks the United States while North Korea insists the world must now accept that it is a nuclear power.
The proposed resolution would ban the supply of nearly 90% of refined oil products to North Korea, put a cap on crude deliveries and order the repatriation of all North Korean nationals working abroad within 12 months, according to the text obtained by AFP.
Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping last month to cut off oil to North Korea, a move that would cripple its desperately struggling economy.
Tens of thousands of North Koreans have been sent to Russia and China to earn revenue for Pyongyang, working in what UN rights officials have described as “slave-like conditions.”
