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The United States said Thursday that North Korea has already exceeded the annual cap allowed for oil imports. and asked the United Nations to order an immediate halt to all transfers of oil to the country.
The request underscores the U.S. determination to keep squeezing North Korea through existing economic sanctions to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons that threaten the United States. Although tensions have eased up since President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore last month. talks on denuclearization have hit a rocky spot since then.
North Korea characterized U.S. attitudes as being `gangster-like` when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Pyongyang a week ago. and suggested it might not be willing to denuclearize after all. Sanctions adherence has slipped as trade has increased along China`s border with North Korea. which has been evading sanctions through dozens of open-sea oil transfers that are prohibited under U.N. sanctions.
In Thursday`s report submitted to the U.N. committee responsible for monitoring North Korean sanctions. the United States said North Korean tankers filled up with oil using ship-to-ship transfers at least 89 times in the first five months of 2018.
According to a copy of the report seen by The Washington Post. U.S. officials calculated that even if the tankers carried only one-third of their full load. North Korea would have already exceeded the annual quota of 500.000 barrels allowed under U.N. sanctions.
