by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Reports, World
By Arul Louis,
United Nations : India violated the UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea last year, sometimes even going against its own government orders, by importing metals worth $2.2 million and exporting jewellery valued at more than $578,000, according the UN panel monitoring the sanctions. Some of the imports and exports continued even after the Indian government issued a notification banning them in March last year.
The panel of experts established by the Council said in a recent report that it found that between January and September last year India had imported iron and steel valued at $1.4 million, iron and steel products worth $234,000, copper worth $233,000 and $526,000 of zinc, ignoring the sanctions.
India also exported jewellery worth $578,994, which included diamonds valued at $514,823, between January and June.
“All exports (from North Korea) after 4 September 2017 violated paragraph 8 of resolution 2371 (2017), while those before 4 September 2017 violated paragraph 26 of resolution 2321 (2016),” the report said.
Those resolutions demand that countries prohibit the import of iron and iron ore from North Korea.
A 2013 resolution expressly banned export of precious and semi-precious stones to North Korea.
In contrast to its dealings with North Korea, India has in other cases strongly supported strict implementation of Council sanctions and in some cases called for more stringent actions, especially relating to terrorism, and criticised countries opposing those restrictions.
The iron imports continued even after March last year when India’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade imposed restrictions on importing iron and iron ore from North Korea, even as it said the sanctions lacked clarity, according to a note from India’s UN Mission to the sanctions panel last July.
“Pending clarity on this issue, national implementation of the measures contained in UNSC resolutions 2270 (2016) and 2321 (2016) relating to iron and iron-ore was nevertheless carried out by Government of India through a notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on 21 March 2017,” it said.
The identities of those who imported from North Korea or exported to it were not included in the report and it is not known if the Indian government took action against those who made the imports in violation of its orders in March or if an investigation is under way.
A UN source familiar with its sanctions monitoring told IANS that India had not provided details about the importers and exporters and the report relied on trade data compiled by the UN and proprietary information from organisations that gather commercial information on trade.
New Delhi reiterated its commitment to implement the sanctions in a report India’s UN Mission sent last month to Karel Van Oosterom, the Netherlands Permanent Representative who chairs the Council’s North Korea Sanctions Committee.
Indian authorities “will ensure that the relevant provisions” of the Council sanctions will be “implemented in letter and spirit,” the report declared.
It said that an order issued on March 5 by the External Affairs Ministry would implement the sanctions relating to North Korea and a notification was issued on March 7 by the DGFT to regulate trade with North Korea to conform to the sanctions.
Big spurts in imports were noticed in August and September just as efforts were under way in the Security Council to tighten sanctions after Pyongyang carried out missile tests, a UN source familiar with the sanctions process told IANS.
Suddenly the iron and steel imports rose from $69,577 in July to $281,000 in August and $487,000 in September, and iron and steel products import went up to $21,000 in September, the source pointed out.
In case of copper, there was again a spurt, from $13,990 in June to $47,000 in August and $152,000 in September.
The sanctions panel’s report to the Council referred to an earlier explanation sent in July by India about the violations that it blamed on a lack of clarity about the sanctions.
That communication from India’s UN Mission asserted that “there was no clarity regarding the scope of the measures related to iron and iron ore since there was no elaboration/explanation of the word ‘iron’ and ‘iron ore’.”
It also asked for “clarity” regarding the items banned, including luxury goods.
A UN official told IANS that sanctions monitors had given India details on how various countries had dealt with the definitions of materials in the sanctions as well as the World Customs Organisation’s codes identifying the products.
India could have more credibly invoked a clause that permits some imports “exclusively for livelihood purposes” that was used, for example, by Russia, the official said.
The July communication said that in March last year, India had tightened the ban on trade with North Korea.
The notification of the ban from the DGFT (Notification No. 41/2015-2020; 21 March 2017) mentioned the Council resolutions and specifically mentioned import of iron ore and export of luxury items (which included jewelry and diamonds).
As regards the assertion in the report about the bans requiring “due legal process for incorporating them in domestic law,” an official pointed out that the UN Charter takes precedence and requires compliance.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in )
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Events, Social Round-up, World
Seoul : Officials from South and North Korea on Monday began a new working-level meeting to finalise the protocol and security measures regarding the historic summit between its leaders scheduled to take place on Friday.
The meeting is being held in the Tongilgak Pavilion, on the northern side of the militarised inter-Korean border, according to the South Korean presidential office.
It is the third such meeting between the representatives of the two countries, since the inter-Korean summit was announced in early March, reports Efe news.
The officials are expected to discuss details of the Friday summit such as the exact time of the meeting between Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in.
Also on the agenda is how Kim will access the summit venue – Peace House – the pavilion on the southern side of the border, a detail of historic importance given that it will technically be the first time a North Korean supreme leader will enter the South.
Monday’s working-level meeting comes after Pyongyang announced over the weekend that it would stop conducting nuclear tests and intercontinental missile launches, marking a significant step ahead of the Kim-Moon summit set to focus on North Korea’s possible denuclearization.
The summit will be the first among Korean leaders in 11 years and the third in history, after the ones held between the late leader and Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il, and the South Korean presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun in 2000 and 2007, respectively.
Another meeting is planned in May between Kim and the US President Donald Trump, which would be the first ever meeting between the sitting heads of the two countries.
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : The White House has denied any direct talks yet between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, though Washington has spoken to Pyongyang “at the highest levels”.
The White House statement on Tuesday came minutes after Trump seemingly hinted that he has already spoken with Kim, Xinhua news agency reported.
When asked by reporters if he had spoken directly with Kim, Trump had said “yes”.
In the statement, issued after the confusing incident, the White House said, “In regards to talks with leader Kim Jong-un, the President said the administration has had talks at the highest levels” and added that they were not with him directly.
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump himself also said that Washington and Pyongyang have already started direct talks at “very high levels,” without specifying how “high” the level was.
“We have had direct talks at very high levels, extremely high levels with North Korea,” Trump said. He might have hinted at CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s reportedly top-secret visit to North Korea over Easter weekend as his envoy.
The trip made by Pompeo was an effort to lay the groundwork for direct talks between the leaders of the two countries. No official confirmation of Pompeo’s visit has come yet.
Trump was expected to meet Kim in May or early June. The venue of the meeting was still to be decided. Trump said that five sites were being weighed and none of them were located in the US.
Tension on the Korean Peninsula has thawed over the last few months. The South and North have agreed to hold an inter-Korean summit on April 27, the first meeting between the leaders of the two sides in 11 years.
“They do have my blessing to discuss the end of the war,” said Trump on Tuesday, referring to the summit.
The 1950-1953 Korean war ended in an armistice. The Korean Peninsula remains technically in a state of war.
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Events, Social Round-up, World
Seoul : North Korea requested a one-day postponement to the working-level meeting with South Korea, initially planned to be held on Wednesday to discuss details of an inter-Korean leader summit in late April, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said.
The meeting has been postponed to Thursday by North Korea, which did not specify the reasons behind the delay, a spokesperson for the South Korean Unification Ministry told Efe news.
Delegations from Pyongyang and Seoul were scheduled to hold a working-level meeting on Wednesday at the militarised border to specify details on the protocol and security of the summit.
North Korea also proposed that the two Koreas hold another talk on Saturday to discuss ways to establish a direct hotline between their leaders, Kim Jong-un and President Moon Jae-in, with the aim of facilitating preparations for the summit, according to the Ministry.
Seoul and Pyongyang have not yet publicly detailed the contents of the summit’s agenda, which will be the first encounter between the leaders of North Korea and South Korea in 11 years, and also mark the first time ever that a North Korean leader sets foot on South Korean soil, as the summit is planned to be held on the southern side of the border.
South Korea will send a seven-member delegation, led by the presidential secretary on protocol, Cho Han-ki, to the upcoming working-level meeting, while the North has yet to confirm its plan to send a six-member delegation to the talks.
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | World
London : North Korea has begun preliminary testing of one of its nuclear reactors at the Yongbyon research facility, according to new satellite imagery examined by Western experts.
The disclosure comes as preparations get underway for the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in April and ahead of Kim’s planned meeting with US President Donald Trump in May, CNN reported on Friday.
A report by London-based intelligence analysts Jane’s has said the imagery indicated that the experimental light water reactor, known as an ELWR, could become operational “with little warning” as early as later this year.
According to Jane’s, an image from February 25 shows an emission rising from the reactor’s stack that “implies testing of the machinery at the site”.
The stack is “intended to vent non-condensable gases from the reactor’s primary circuit”, it said.
Rob Munks, editor of Jane’s Intelligence Review, said the light-water reactor “could be used for civilian electricity generation — its stated purpose — or diverted towards the nuclear programme”.
The reactor is linked to the power grid. Industry experts say that once operational, the ELWR would be able to produce about 25-30 megawatts, perhaps enough to power a town of some 50,000 inhabitants.
“In theory, if the reactor comes online and if it were diverted towards plutonium and tritium production, it could enable North Korea to expand its stock,” CNN quoted Munks as saying.
Over the last year, Jane’s and other research groups have identified increased activity in several parts of the Yongbyon site, 75 km north of Pyongyang.
Construction of the ELWR was completed in 2013 and is optimised for civilian electricity production, but it has “dual-use” potential and can be modified to produce material for nuclear weapons.
—IANS
