Top nuclear envoys from South Korea, the United States and Japan pledged yesterday to implement new sanctions against North Korea, including capping the country’s coal exports to choke off cash flowing into its nuclear weapons program.
After meeting in Seoul, the envoys said the countries agreed to maintain an around-the-clock information sharing system to monitor how sanctions are working.
Responding to North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests this year, the United Nations Security Council recently voted to tighten sanctions by limiting the country’s coal exports, one of its major sources of foreign currency.
The effectiveness of the sanctions is dependent on the commitment of China, North Korea’s most important ally and its biggest buyer of coal. Joseph Yun, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, said China’s announcement over the weekend that it would freeze imports of North Korean coal until the end of the year was an encouraging sign.
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