Several countries appeal to China to prevent Pyongyang from circumventing international sanctions

The United States, the European Union, Japan, and other countries have asked China for "help" to prevent North Korea from using Chinese territorial waters to circumvent UN sanctions on the oil sector, according to a letter seen by AFP Friday.

In the letter, the ambassadors of those countries to the United Nations requested the "help" of their Chinese counterpart Zhang Jun "to stop (North Korea's) maritime activities seeking to evade sanctions imposed under Security Council resolutions."

"We are particularly concerned about the repeated presence of multiple oil tankers using your national waters in Sansha Bay as a haven to facilitate their trade in petroleum products," the letter said.

The letter was signed by the ambassadors of Australia, Canada, France, the European Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States to the United Nations.

The letter indicated that satellite images would also be sent showing that "these practices continued" in 2022 and 2023.

"We repeat to China our previous request to inspect ships for evidence of illegal oil trade" and to "expel" those ships from its waters "at the earliest" if they return to Sansha Bay, the signatories said.

North Korea has been subject to international sanctions since 2006, which expanded in 2017. In that year, the Security Council unanimously took measures to limit, especially North Korea's oil imports, to force it to stop its nuclear and ballistic weapons programs.

Since 2017, the Security Council has not been able to reach a unified position.

In May 2022, China and Russia vetoed a resolution imposing new sanctions on Pyongyang. Since then, the council has not issued any decision or statement, despite North Korea's several missile launches, the latest of which was Saturday.

The United States regularly accuses Beijing and Moscow of being a "shield" for the North Korean regime and of encouraging new missile launches by preventing a unified response from the council.

The letter to the Chinese ambassador stressed "the need for the international community, including China, to send a strong and unified message that North Korea must refrain from provocation, honor its obligations" related to Security Council resolutions and commit to "the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

AFP