Does China want to 'get tough' with North Korea?

North Korea's continuous missile launches, culminating in its recent sixth nuclear test, demonstrate that North Korea's nuclear potential 'cannot be ignored'.

Every time North Korea launches a missile, every time it tests a nuclear weapon, it is punished. However, it seems that the punishment is not effective. So what is the source of this?

Chinese President Xi Jinping chairs the BRICS Summit amid North Korea's announcement of a successful hydrogen bomb test. Photo: Reuters

Oil problem

In a statement opposing North Korea's nuclear test on September 3, South Korean President Moon Jae-in also gave the key to the North Korea issue, including strictly implementing the UN Security Council's embargo No. 2371, which completely bans the import of coal and iron to North Korea.
But there is a loophole in the sanctions: there is no measure to “cut off oil supplies” from China to North Korea.

Currently, the US, South Korea and Japan are all working together to somehow get China to agree to stop supplying oil to North Korea in the next UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea.

And another measure is to use military measures against North Korea.

Meanwhile, the South Korean newspaper Money Today recently reported that in order to cope with the international community's ban on oil imports, it has planned to stockpile about 1,000,000 tons of oil since April 2017. This amount of oil accounts for two-thirds of North Korea's half of its oil imports in 2017. Every year, North Korea imports about 1.5-2 million tons of oil, of which 90% comes from China.

North Korea also imposed a limit on the amount of gasoline consumed by government vehicles. The fuel shortage for these vehicles will be met by fuel from private companies. Thus, North Korea considers oil as “blood”.

Experts say North Korea will continue to launch missiles and conduct nuclear tests, so the country will likely quickly stockpile oil in anticipation of a possible ban on oil imports due to sanctions against the country.

Does China want to be "strong"?

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on August 30 that “necessary countermeasures” including a new sanctions resolution against North Korea are needed. China also cannot support actions that violate the UN Security Council resolution and undermine the international nuclear non-proliferation regime.

But Mr. Vuong also said that simply imposing sanctions is "useless," and that the request by the US and Japan to ban oil supplies to North Korea is not really clear and transparent.

But he also stressed that sanctions must be based on UN Security Council resolutions. Separate, independent sanctions based on domestic judicial powers are inconsistent with international law. Accordingly, Foreign Minister Wang also criticized the US for increasing sanctions against Chinese coal companies that cooperate with North Korea.

The reason why China strongly opposes this is because China is the country that currently accounts for 90% of new trade transactions with North Korea. And the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph F. Dunford, during his visit to China in mid-August, did not hesitate to say that in the event of military action, it is unknown what will happen and the US may have no choice but to take military action. Will this make China stop exporting oil to North Korea?

South Korea's Net User online newspaper also called on China to stop supplying oil to North Korea, and if China does not take this measure, sanctions against North Korea will be difficult to implement.

The newspaper also criticized China, saying that "in the matter of sanctioning North Korea, China is just "talking the talk"./.

According to VOV