[imText1]Following the North Korea nuke experiment and the consequent U.N. Security Council’s North Korea Resolution 1718, the U.S. government has expanded its list of export embargos on luxury goods to North Korea.
The luxury items on the list of export embargos specified by the U.S. include cognac, cigars, Rolex watches, expensive cars, Harley-Davidson motorcycles and jet skis.
The U.S. will further add additional high technology goods and sports items such as iPod’s, PDP TV’s and Segway electric scooters.
It seems that these items were selected on the basis of Kim Jong Il’s preference and gifts given to his 600 or so military staff and officials, in an attempt to have affect Kim Jong Il and his North Korean political leaders. This is the first time the U.S. has taken measures against North Korea in banning the export of goods unrelated to military use or weapon manufacture.
Last year, U.S. exports to North Korea amounted a paltry US$5.8mn, of which most was food. The U.S. announced that it would take extra restrictive measures in addition to the measures already placed, on music and sports equipment lavishly enjoyed by Kim Jong Il.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez announced on the 29th “The list of import and export sanctions has been considered after careful deliberation and does not include food and medicine needed by the people” and revealed that a list of embargo goods will be announced officially in due time.
In relation, the Associated Press commented “The only person who can buy these goods in a food shortage and poverty stricken North Korea is General Kim Jong Il” and analyzed “The Bush Administration installed the list of restrictions to aggravate only one person (Kim Jong Il).”
In an interview with the Associated Press, William Reinsch, former senior Commerce Department official who oversaw trade restrictions with North Korea during the Clinton Administration esteemed the U.S. governments measures as original and ‘a new concept’ in dealing with sanctions.
However, Reinsch questioned that the U.S. government was underestimating the black market and its effect on their decision.
He said “The problem is there has always been and will always be this group of people who work at getting these goods illegally” and claimed that it is impossible to regulate the black market and that it was beyond anyone’s ability to stop the inflow of smuggled goods into North Korea.
Also, he said small electronic goods such as iPods and notebooks are “untraceable and available all over the place” and questioned whether the list of North Korea embargo goods would be effective.
Prior, on the 14th Japan specified a list of sanction items including expensive meat, caviar, tuna, cars, motorcycles, cameras and stones, though many member states of the U.N. are still deliberating on which items should be included on their restriction list.
