Markey's plan for sanctions on revenue generating and regime strengthening goods/services was formed during visit to border crossing between China and North Korea
Washington (August 29, 2017) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), top Democrat on the East Asia Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for Ambassador Nikki Haley to push the United Nations Security Council to implement a total embargo on oil to the North Korean regime as well as other tough, new sanctions. Markey's proposed sanctions come less than a week after his visit to the North Korea-China border where he led a congressional delegation that was the first foreign group to receive a briefing from Chinese customs officials at its border with North Korea.
The statement below comes in advance of the United Nations Security Council’s Emergency Meeting in response to North Korea’s most recent tests of short and intermediate range ballistic missiles. Reports also indicate that North Korea is preparing to perform a sixth test of a nuclear explosive device. Senator Markey called on the UN to sharply intensify economic pressure on North Korea to bring them back to the negotiating table.
“We must exhaust every available peaceful option before President Trump puts “all options on the table” and considers launching a preventive war,” said Senator Markey. “Now is the time for the United Nations Security Council to pass, and the United States, China, Russia, and the entire community of nations to enforce, tough new sanctions to:
1. Cut off the import of all oil products to North Korea;
2. Require the dissolution of all existing business partnerships between North Korea the rest of the world;
3. Prohibit all export of slave labor from North Korea to other countries and cut off the revenues they generate for the Kim Regime;
4. Prohibit the import of all luxury goods into North Korea; and
5. Prohibit the export of all textiles from North Korea to other countries.
“This week's new missile tests and apparent preparation for a sixth nuclear test highlights the need for the international community to apply the economic pressure required to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table. At the same time President Trump must stop spoiling for a fight and negotiate an immediate freeze on North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile testing," said Senator Markey. “In exchange, we must be willing to take measures to assure North Korea that our military forces are in the region only to deter and defend against aggression, not to attack or depose the North Korean regime. As soon as North Korea agrees to such a freeze, we and our South Korean allies should continue direct negotiations with Pyongyang on two closely coordinated tracks, one with the United States leading direct negotiations toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and the second with the South Korea leading direct negotiations toward social, cultural, and intergovernmental relations. Having now visited this region and met with allied leaders, I will do everything in my power to ensure that our government exhausts all peaceful measures to resolve the North Korean nuclear threat and avoids a second Korean War.”
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