Current Sanctions on North Korea 'Ineffective,' UN Official Tells House Subcommittee

Sanctions on North Korea have not been working, a United Nations Panel of Experts official told a House subcommittee on March 27, adding that North Korea has made no progress toward denuclearization.

Hugh Griffiths, the coordinator for the U.N. Panel of Experts on North Korea, told the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation that North Korea’s “illegal ship-to-ship transfers” have rendered “the latest U.N. Security Council sanctions ineffective.” During the hearing, several subcommittee members called for increased sanctions on North Korea. ”I believe that North Korea has conclusively demonstrated that it is not under enough pressure to agree to a deal acceptable to the United States,” said Subcommittee Chair Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., referring to denuclearization negotiations between the two countries. “If you want a better outcome, you need better sanctions.”

At the start of the hearing, Sherman briefly addressed the latest round of U.S. sanctions against North Korea, in which President Donald Trump appeared to contradict the Treasury Department by withdrawing the sanctions in a March 22 announcement on Twitter. On March 26, Bloomberg reported that administration officials had convinced Trump to back down from that stance (see 19032600430). It remains unclear if the sanctions are still in effect. The notice has not been removed from the Treasury’s website, and the White House and Treasury have not responded to requests for comment.

Sherman expressed uncertainty about whether those sanctions will still be imposed, but stressed that the U.S. should focus on implementing more. “The fact is that even the new sanctions, if allowed to go into effect, will not be significant enough to get Chairman Kim [Jong Un] to change his bargaining position,” he said.

Griffiths said the main problem with North Korean sanctions evasions lies in the country's illegal ship-to-ship transferring practices, whereby the country is regularly able to import petroleum products and crude oil by trading with another ship at sea. Many of the vessels, he added, turn their automatic identification system off to avoid detection. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets control issued a March 21 report on the practice along with a list of ships known to have helped North Korea evade U.N and U.S.-imposed sanctions. “These are international waters,” Griffiths said. “Nothing is really being monitored.”

Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., said the U.S. should be focusing more on China, which he said “does over 90 percent of the trade with North Korea.” Yoho said China, which is a member of the U.N. Security Council, is repeatedly violating the North Korean sanctions that the council has imposed. “I think we need to go after the bigger players,” Yoho said.

Griffiths rejected that notion, saying the majority of players involved in illegal ship-to-ship transfers with North Korea are “individuals and companies seeking to make money from sanctions evasions.” He read directly from the Treasury’s list of vessels, mentioned in its March 21 report on illegal North Korean shipping practices, that are known to have engaged in ship-to-ship transfers with North Korea. Although not a comprehensive list, the vast majority did not list China as a flag state. “It’s really a global issue, and I think it's high time [for] maritime governance on the high seas,” Griffiths said. “Otherwise Chairman Kim is going to have room to maneuver for some time to come.”