Heading for a showdown in the U.N. Security Council today on new U.N. sanctions on North Korea, China and Russia reject the idea of an oil embargo to force North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un to the bargaining table. Told North Korea is a nuclear power by its government KCNA news agency, Security Council members know that Kim has no intention of giving up his nuke and ballistic missile programs. Detonating a two-stage thermonuclear [hydrogen] bomb Sept. 3 capable of fitting into an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile [ICBM], the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, U.S., U.K., France, Russia and China, have differing agendas on North Korea. China supplies all of North Korea’s 500,000 metric tons of crude oil or the equivalent of 3.5 million barrels a year. China has a vested interest in continuing the status quo with North Korea.
When you consider today’s spot market for crude oil a barrel is $47.8, that puts China’s crude oil exports to North Korea at $167.3 million, not to mention the 270,000 metric tons of refined products or 189,000 barrels or roughly 7,938,000 gallons of refined products, averaging about $.4.50 a gallons with jet fuel, diesel and unleaded regular or about $35.721 million, totaling over $200 million a year. China has a vested interest in continuing to supply the DPRK [Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea] with as much crude oil and refined products as possible. When the Security Council meets to consider the U.S. proposal for harsher sanctions, including an oil embargo, China and Russia will object, watering down the U.S. proposal. President Donald Trump warned DPRK about “fire-and-fury” Aug. 8 after launching an ICBM. Trump told North Korea that the military option was on the table.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she’d like to be involved in any negotiations with North Korea, much like her involvement in the Iranian-nuke deal in 2015. After Trump’s “fire-and-fury” remarks, the EU and United Nations have been in overdrive trying to figure out a diplomatic solution. Twenty years of diplomatic failure under three presidents has gone nowhere, watching Kim work feverishly on nukes and ICBMs. No one in the EU, China or Russia have been threatened with nuclear war like the United States. DPRK’s officials news channel has repeatedly threatened the U.S. with nukes, only yesterday “The forthcoming measures to be taken by the DPRK will cause the U.S. the greatest pain and suffering it had ever gone through in its entire history,” said KCNA. Making more threats against the U.S. causes Trump to ignore EU and U.N. calls for diplomacy.
China and Russia object to the U.S. proposed oil embargo, including a ban on using North Korean laborers in foreign countries. Banning DPRK’s textile would be more fathomable to Russia and China, than banning oil exports and foreign labor. British Amb. Matthew Rycroft urged China and Russia to show a unified front on the Security Council. “There is a significant price in keeping the whole of the Security Council united,” said Rycoft, knowing the final agreement could lead to Trump’s military option. Diluting the U.S. proposal won’t bring Kim to the bargaining table, especially over his nukes and ballistic missiles. Kim insists he needs his nukes and ballistic missiles to prevent a U.S. invasion, something so farfetched, so preposterous, so off-the-wall that it speaks to Kim’s state-of-mind. Sixty-four years after the armistice to end the Korean War, the U.S. has made no attempts to invade.
When you consider Kim’s logic, it’s unsound reasoning, considering the only possible country with any vested interest in invading would be South Korea. No U.S. president since Dwight D. Eisenhower ever hinted, expressed or stated anything about invading North Korea. Kim uses the “invasion” excuse to justify developing nukes and ballistic missiles. Trump’s got a lot on his plate protecting U.S. national security from a foreign leader threatening nuclear war against the U.S. EU and U.N. officials must get the threat to the U.S. posed by Kim Jong-un. He’s threatening no other country than the United States. Unlike Trump, the EU and U.N. accept North Korea as a nuclear state, subject to Mutual Assured Destruction theory. With someone like Kim, Trump can’t assure that he’d abide by conventional protocol with nuclear-armed states, especially nonproliferation.
Trump identified North Korea as the U.S. gravest threat. If he gets a nuclear-ready ICBM, there’s nothing other than missile defense that can save the U.S. from a potential nuclear strike. Watering down the new U.S. plan allows the DPRK to evade any sanctions currently in place to stop its nuke and ballistic missile program. “The world will witness how the DPRK tames the U.S. gangsters by taking a series of actions tougher than they have ever envisaged,” said KCNA. More threats against the U.S. put Trump in a real dilemma dealing with U.S. national security. No country can threaten another with nuclear attack without consequences. Kim crosses the line many times over, threatening the U.S. with its missiles and nukes. Kim blames the U.S. for the new sanctions but, more or less, there’s consensus on the Security Council that something serious must be done.
