The United Nations considers a U.S. proposal calling for sanction exemptions for humanitarian organizations to be lengthened. The United States presents this proposal as assistance for major incidents that may damage the economy or the general welfare of the public such as the current global pandemic or a future nature disaster. As the pandemic along with typhoons and the border closure from China have put North Korea in a dangerous position economically. With the knowledge that these ongoing sanctions have brought difficulty to the North Korean citizens, this comes as an attempt to bring partial recovery to the general population. U.S President Trump had visits with Kim Jong Un in the hopes of reaching an agreement on the abolition of sanctions for the North Korean and a hindrance on the nuclear weapons in place in Pyongyang.
I think this is a hopefully development for the relations between the U.S, U.N, and North Korea. As these sanctions have been in place since 2006, not to mention the recent worldly events, this proposal would be extremely beneficial to the people of North Korea and hopefully in turn the leaders. If the proposal is approved by the fifteen member sanctions council, it will hopefully foster an improved relationship between the two nations and their leader and the U.N. This has the possibility to finally stop the decade old sanctions and hostility. I am not sure how U.S-North Korea relations will adjust with the soon transition of power for the United States. I think this instance is best analyzed through the liberal perspective, seeing as some of the decision making revolves around the welfare of the North Korean public. If attempted to examine through the realist perspective, this event would be difficult to connect with the main motivation for the exemptions of sanctions being improvement for the people and a potentially improved relationship between the countries and the U.N. as opposed to solely being motivated by a potential power gain. Though it may have some self interest, I would argue that it is also an event that can be defined by reciprocity.