THE WASHINGTON TIMES: The U.N. Security Council unanimously pushed through a harsh slate of sanctions against North Korea on Wednesday — even winning support from China to slash coal imports from its nuclear-armed neighbor — a day after the Obama administration sought to ease regional concerns over a political crisis gripping South Korea.
Beijing’s embrace of the U.S.-drafted resolution signaled unprecedented cooperation from China, which is believed to be the only country buying North Korean coal and has faced pressure for months from Washington to toughen its posture toward the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system has irked China, which is seen to wield growing influence in South Korea amid expanding trade ties between Beijing and Seoul. Some analysts have raised concern that the scandal surrounding Ms. Park could trigger a political backlash from South Korean opposition parties to the U.S. military presence in the nation. The Obama administration downplayed such concerns Tuesday. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters that “the security relationship between [South Korea] and the United States is substantial and so important that it supersedes political relationships.”
It remains to be seen whether China, considered the North’s only real ally, will implement the sanctions. Over the first 10 months of 2016, the Chinese have imported 18.6 million tons of coal from North Korea, up almost 13 percent from last year, according to Reuters. Such imports will face a significant cut under the sanctions. While Chinese officials have opposed North Korea’s recent nuclear tests, Ambassador Liu Jieyi seemed to suggest Wednesday that Beijing remains wary about following Washington’s lead toward containing Pyongyang.
Mr. Liu accused the U.S. and South Korea of intensifying confrontation with North Korea through increased military exercises and posturing. He specifically described the THAAD deployment as “neither conducive to the realization of the goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula nor helpful to the maintenance of peace and stability on the peninsula.”