[imText1]An agreement was made on the 13th, rounding up the six party talks in Beijing with North Korea concurring that it would begin dismantling its nukes. Consequently, it will be interesting to see how the international community will act regarding the North Korea sanctions.
◆ What will happen to the U.N. Security Council’s North Korea sanctions?
Already many analysts prospect that the recent February 13th Beijing agreement will become the starting point for the shut down of nuclear weapons, and that the sanctions will inevitably incur change.
Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations Security Council’s Resolution 1718, Article 41, Section 15 “Affirms that it shall keep DPRK’s actions under continuous review and that it shall be prepared to review the appropriateness of the measures contained in paragraph 8 above, including the strengthening, modification, suspension or lifting of the measures, as may be needed at that time in light of the DPRK’s compliance with the provisions of the resolution.”
According to this article, now that North Korea has agreed to begin its preliminary measures to dismantle its nukes, discussions can also begin on suspending, adjusting and even releasing the sanctions against North Korea.
However, the U.N. does not appear to be in a state of releasing the sanctions. Recently, Tony Snow, the spokesman for the White House said that if North Korea did not abide by the agreement, the U.S. would not be able to gain what they wanted and that the threat of sanctions by the international community would still be accessible.
On the same day, the Security Council’s Sanctions Committee did discuss future operations with some countries expressing that the six party talks would influence the committees’ decisions.
Though 15 nations of the participating member states in the Security Council including China may appeal that the sanctions be eased, experts analyze that as long as the dismantle of nuclear weapons is not definite, it will be difficult for the remaining member states to accept the request.
Nonetheless, the chances that the sanctions will be removed are low as Japan strongly opposes the idea until the issue of Japanese abductees is resolved.
[imText2]◆ Will the U.S. remove North Korea from the list of terrorist nations and end Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA)?
This is what the working group designed to normalize U.S. and North Korea relations will aim to do.
If North Korea is removed from the list of terrorist nations and TWEA is amended or abolished, not only will there be a chance for North Korea and the U.S. to resume normalized trade but all frozen assets in the U.S. owned by North Korean businessmen will also be released.
Following the explosion of a Korean Airlines plane in 1987, the U.S. implemented strong sanctions against North Korea and targeted it as a nation supporting terrorism.
Though the issue of a terrorist nation may be considered a separate matter to the U.S. Administration, TWEA does affect the peace truce between the U.S. and North Korea. In 1950, when the Korean War first broke out, under TWEA, the U.S. Department of Treasury regulated all foreign assets and froze North Korean assets, placing a ban on trade and financial transactions with North Korea.
Although the removal of a hostile country and the mitigation is in part a matter unrelated to the U.S. Administration, many analyze that another resolution is necessary for the safety of the nation.
However, as the removal of U.S. sanctions tries to match the timing of North Korea’s preliminary measures to dismantle its nukes, it is possible that discussions will be made only when North Korea does make substantial measures towards eradicating its nukes.
As there has not been any other evidence suggesting that North Korea is a nation supporting terrorism since the KAL explosion, the issue of removing North Korea from the list of terrorist nations seems comparatively easy. However, as the issue of Japanese abductees has not yet been resolved, it appears that the issue will be indirectly delayed as the Japanese-North Korea relations workgroup undergoes discussion.
Currently, the Japanese government is portraying a proactive attitude stating that the resolution of Japanese abductees is a major requirement in removing North Korea from the list of terrorist nations and asserted that the U.S. was completely aware of Japan’s position.
Contrastingly, the U.S. is showing a position that under TWEA, issues that exclude North Korea need to be addressed and argues the preliminary stages would not be a time to enforce a final decision.
