(World Today Wednesday 21 September 2016)
US, China agree to step up cooperation on North Korea
MEASURES TAKEN
China’s Foreign Ministry said relevant departments were investigating Liaoning Hongxiang Group and were following the provisions of UN resolution 2270, which imposed tighter sanctions on North Korea in March in response to its fourth nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range missile a month later.
Certain assets related to Liaoning Hongxiang Industrial, its founder and top executive Ma Xiaohong, and some of her relatives and associates, have been frozen by Chinese authorities in recent weeks, according to government and corporate filings cited by the Wall Street Journal.
NEW YORK — United States President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang have agreed to step up cooperation in the United Nations (UN) Security Council and in law enforcement channels after North Korea’s fifth nuclear test, the White House said.
China and the US are also targeting the finances of Liaoning Hongxiang Industrial, a Chinese conglomerate headed by a Communist Party cadre, that the Obama administration thinks has a role in assisting North Korea’s nuclear programme, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
UN diplomats say the two countries have started discussions on a possible UN sanctions resolution in response to the nuclear test earlier this month, but Beijing has not said directly whether it will support tougher steps against North Korea.
Mr Obama met Mr Li on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly session in New York.
“Both leaders condemned North Korea’s Sept 9 nuclear test and resolved to strengthen coordination in achieving the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, including by invigorating cooperation in the UN Security Council and in law enforcement channels on North Korea,” a White House statement said.
China is isolated North Korea’s most important diplomatic backer and its biggest trading partner.
It has been angered by Pyongyang’s repeated nuclear and missile tests and signed on to increasingly tough UN sanctions, but it has said it believes such steps are not the ultimate answer and called for a return to talks with North Korea.
Washington has pressed Beijing to do more to rein in Pyongyang. The US has said it is willing to negotiate with the North if the country commits to get rid of its nuclear weapons, which North Korea has refused to do.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is preparing as early as this week to announce legal action against Chinese firms suspected of providing financial assistance to Pyongyang, the Journal reported, citing officials familiar with the matter.
It said DoJ prosecutors visited Beijing twice last month to make their Chinese counterparts aware of alleged criminal activities being committed by Liaoning Hongxiang Industrial.
A social media post last week from the police in Liaoning, the north-eastern border province of China, said they were investigating the firm’s alleged long-term involvement in “serious economic crimes” and that relevant suspects were cooperating.
A report by Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul and C4ADS in Washington says it identified more than US$500 million (S$681 million) in trade from January 2011 to September 2015 between the North and the Liaoning Hongxiang Group, which states on its website that it trades heavily with the North.
“While no judgment is being made on the final use of these funds, trade at this volume is of particular note. By one estimate, this amount would have been almost enough to both fund North Korea’s uranium enrichment facilities, and to design, make and test its nuclear weapons,” the report said.
Mr Chang Yong-seok, senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, Seoul National University, said this case was symbolic and could have real practical impact.
“This was the US taking China into consideration and working with China. More such cases may follow if the US or South Korea have firm evidence ... Chinese companies that have capacity for producing or securing goods for North Korea may be worried now,” he said.
Representatives of the DoJ and Hongxiang Industrial were unavailable for comment. REUTERS