Recently there has been a problem with the illegal importation of coal from North Korea and people are trying to pass it off as Russian coal. This is illegal due to the sanctions put in place right now on North Korea. The unidentified people have been caught and fined for this illegal importation. The amount of coal they imported was huge and worth billions of dollars.
The UN Security Council banned North Korea’s exportation of coal, iron, lead, and more to cut down on the United States export income of over 3 billion dollars a year. This is a problem for North Korea and Russia because people are taking coal that is simply not theirs and smuggling it into other countries to make a profit.
I understand that the prices of coal are low because the price has gone down due to it being hard to trade internationally, so people smuggle it in illegal on essentially a black market and try not to get caught: but that does not mean I agree with the illegal exportation. There has to be another way to make money, most likely an easier way. I imagine smuggling billions of dollars of coal is not easy and it would be way more practical to start a small business or look for a mediocre job instead.
Due to the coal issue and the alarming amount of nuclear weapons in North Korea the United States has been enforcing strict sanctions on North Korea. President Trump has met with Kim Jong UN to try and get him to denuclearize his country. Until the coal issue and nuclearization issue ha stopped I believe the United States will stay strong on their sanctions in North Korea. I think this is a good idea if we actually maintain our sanctions because I think Kim Jong Un respects Donald Trump and so hopefully eventually he will give in and we will start trading with them more, while also feeling safe that we will not get nuked any time soon.