Targeting Chinese banks to stop Kim Jong-un's nuclear programme
Several experts propose going after banks that are said to launder North Korean money. The US admits that punitive measures have failed; however, sanctioning Chinese banks could have catastrophic effects globally. North Korea uses various tricks to circumvent restrictions.
Seoul (AsiaNews) – Some experts are proposing a “nuclear” option to stop North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes, by taking punitive measures against Chinese banks that help North Korea dodge sanctions promoted by the United States and adopted by the United Nations.
The restrictive measures and the moratorium on nuclear and ballistic tests, unilaterally decreed by the Kim Jong-un’s regime in 2017, have not halted North Korea's military ambitions.
Since the start of this year, Kim has ordered a record number of missile tests and there is speculation that he is preparing a new nuclear test.
According to estimates by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, North Korea had 20 nuclear warheads in its arsenal in January 2022, with enough fissile material available for 45-55 nuclear devices.
The United States admits that the sanctions regime has failed, but claims that it has at least slowed Kim's military programme.
Washington is convinced that Chinese banks are laundering North Korean money. Some note that when sanctions were systematically applied, North Korea was more willing to negotiate.
Conversely, critics of this solution warn that excluding China's big banking institutions from the international financial system would have catastrophic consequences for the entire world.
North Korea is isolated from the international community (except for China and to some extent Russia), and has been subject to international sanctions since 2006.
Analysts note that the North Koreans have been able to get around restrictions thanks to Chinese and Russian help, but also because the US effectively blocked their application in mid-2018 when Donald Trump opened fruitless negotiations with Kim.
According to the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), a research organisation affiliated with the National Defense University in Washington, North Korea sells weapons and missile technology to finance its military budget.
The main recipients of these transfers are Iran, Sudan, and Houthi rebels in Yemen who are pro-Iranian and anti-Saudi.
Other sources of funding are counterfeiting foreign currency and narcotics trafficking, which, for the INSS, make North Korea more of a “quasi-criminal" enterprise than a legitimate nation-state.
To replenish the regime's coffers, Kim has also authorised cyber-attacks against financial institutions in other countries.
.png)
12/02/2016 15:14
28/10/2022 14:50
