Financial Sanction against North Korea

[H. daniel]

.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged Washington's support for South Korea and called on North Korea to end belligerent actions after meetings with President Lee Myung-bak and Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan on Wednesday.

"We will stand with you in this difficult hour and we will stand with you always," Clinton said at a news conference with Yu.

The meetings come at a time of high tensions on the Korean peninsula after Seoul blamed North Korea for the sinking in March of the South Korean warship Cheonan.

An official South Korean report has accused the communist North of firing a torpedo at the ship, killing 46 sailors.

Clinton said the international community has an obligation to respond to the alleged attack and promised to push the matter in the U.N. Security Council.

Do you support the US led Financial Sanction against North Koera?
1. Yes, I do
2. No, I don't
3. I'm not sure

 

[The Rabbi]

What are economic sanctions going to do against a rogue state that trades mainly with other rogue states and will defeat them? Looks like meaningless symbolism to me. They already have some sanctions against Iran and see how well that is working.

 

[rightwinger]

I think South Korea should have the lead in determining which retribution should be taken. It is their soldiers that will be killed in a potential war.

Saber rattling and calls to invade the north always sound good from the chicken hawks....just like they did in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Look how that one turned out

 

[JWBooth]

South Korea has a much larger population and economy. They can afford to handle the North on their own. That they haven't had to is our fault. Get our troops out and let SK grow up take responsibility for themselves.

 

[Claudette]

The troll running NK could care less about sanctions. He doesn't give a shit if his people starve. He will always have a strong army and more than enough money for himself and his regimes leaders.


Sanctions against NK.. Useless.

 

[waltky]

Without oil and food, the unstable regime may take extreme steps...

Oil Sanctions Risk Pushing North Korea Over the Edge
April 6, 2016 - A new round of United Nations sanctions on North Korea has a lot of loopholes, and China is only enforcing those that hit at Pyongyang's weapons-making capabilities.

The rogue nation, that is once again making nuclear threats, is using its hostage population as a human shield in order to get Chinese oil and food. In January, Pyongyang conducted its forth nuclear test. In February, it launched a long-range rocket. In early March, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reportedly ordered the military to deploy the country’s nuclear warheads on standby. It’s not the first time—nor will it be the last—but this colorfully unstable dictatorship will eventually crack, and the price of that could very well be devastatingly nuclear.

Now, in the face of tough new sanctions by the U.N. and ongoing joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, North Korea is saying it will continue to pursue its nuclear and ballistic missile program in an act of defiance. And Pyongyang says there is no longer any possibility for talks. The new U.N. sanctions target North Korea’s shipping network, allowing for searches of vessels for cargo that could be intended for Pyongyang’s weapons program. But it’s tough to get around the economic relationship between China and North Korea. No sanctions can work if China doesn’t play ball. China, after all, is the central point here: Some 90 percent of all North Korean trade flows to or through China.

Most mineral trade with North Korea is banned, because it’s been used to fund the country’s nuclear program. But food and oil gets through because Beijing ostensibly believes that such crippling sanctions would harm the innocent population and lead to dangerous internal destabilization—which no one wants when a country has its finger on the red button.

The mining sector is being hit hard, but the new sanctions also reveal some interesting connections in the supply chain. According to regulatory disclosures cited by Reuters, there are more than 12 U.S.-listed companies with links to North Korean gold in their supply chains. And it counts even if minerals come through a third-country supplier. The chain has to be followed to its end source. The new sanctions mean that a lot of suppliers face being blacklisted because U.S. companies cannot risk the regulatory fines.

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Oil steady as Iraqi exports up, offsetting U.S. inventories drop
Thu Apr 7, 2016 - Oil steadied at around $40 per barrel on Thursday as a surprise fall in U.S. inventories the previous day was offset by an increase in exports from Iraq, underlining global oversupply.

Brent futures were at $39.89 at 0757 GMT, up 5 cents from the last close and about 8 percent above lows reached earlier this week. U.S. crude futures were at $37.80 per barrel, also up 5 cents from their last close. Oil exports from Iraq's southern ports have risen to an average of 3.494 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, an official from the state-run South Oil Company said on Thursday. This was above the 3.286 million bpd average for March.

U.S. crude inventories fell 4.9 million barrels in the week to April 1, compared with analysts' expectations for an increase of 3.2 million barrels, according to data from the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday. "We are in the aftermath of yesterday's (EIA) data, but if you zoom out there's still oversupply and record inventories," said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro in Amsterdam. "Production numbers from places like Iran and Iraq are in focus with people looking to see how it translates into the overall supply picture."

In Europe, North Sea oil field maintenance expected next month lent support to Brent futures, which are priced off North Sea supplies. The over 4 percent slide in the dollar .DXY since the beginning of the year is also supporting oil, traders said, as it makes imports of dollar-denominated fuels cheaper for countries using other currencies, boosting demand. A planned meeting of major oil producers on April 17 to freeze output around current levels, which in most cases remains at or near record highs, would do little to reduce an overhang in production with at least 1 million barrels of crude pumped every day in excess of demand.

Goldman Sachs (GS.N) said it was "less willing to believe in a sustained OPEC production freeze or cut" and instead expected OPEC's production to rise by 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year and by 500,000 bpd in 2017. As a result of this, and also production data from the United States, Goldman said it was "somewhere between in line and modestly bearish for prices ... (and that) $35 per barrel WTI is not too high and not too low but just right."

Oil steady as Iraqi exports up, offsetting U.S. inventories drop