China will suspend all imports of coal from North Korea, effectively slicing the country’s exports by about half.
The move, announced by China’s commerce ministry on Saturday, is believed to form part of the country’s efforts to implement United Nations sanctions against North Korea, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The Ministry of Commerce said the ban would start February 19 and be effective until December 31.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported last week that a shipment of North Korean coal worth around $1.3 million was rejected at Wenzhou port on China’s eastern coast.
The rejection came a day after Pyonyang’s intermediate ballistic missile test, its first direct challenge to the international community since US President Donald Trump took office on January. 20.
China announced in April last year that it would ban North Korean coal imports in order to comply with United Nations sanctions aimed at starving the country of funds for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Coal sales accounted for more than 50 per cent of North Korea’s exports to China last year, and about a fifth of its total trade, according to Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
“Of course they may have methods to replace the damage, but just by looking at the size of the loss, that’s a pretty big blow,” he said.
However, it made exceptions for deliveries intended for “the people’s well-being” and not connected to the nuclear or missile programs.
Despite the restrictions, North Korea remained China’s fourth biggest supplier of coal last year, with non-lignite imports reaching 22.48 million tonnes, up 14.5 per cent compared to 2015.
China’s move to ban the imports effectively slices North Korea’s exports in half and came with a message for the US and its allies: it’s time to do a deal.
Chinese officials say pushing North Korea into a corner won’t work as Kim Jong-un’s regime will keep developing its nuclear capability until it feels safe. Instead, it’s time to restart talks and “break the negative cycle on the nuclear issue,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a statement on Sunday after meeting South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se in Munich.
China’s call for a new initiative contrasts with a more hawkish tone out of Washington as President Trump had promised to deal with North Korea “very strongly” after its latest missile test and had called on China to get tougher.