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posted by Fnord666 on Monday February 20 2017, @08:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the that's-going-to-sting dept.

China said on Saturday that it was suspending all imports of coal from North Korea as part of its effort to enact United Nations Security Council sanctions aimed at stopping the country's nuclear weapons and ballistic-missile program.

The ban takes effect on Sunday and will last until the end of the year, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a brief statement posted on its website on Saturday. Chinese trade and aid have long been a vital economic crutch for North Korea, and the decision strips North Korea of one of its most important sources of foreign currency.

Coal has accounted for 34 percent to 40 percent of North Korean exports in the past several years, and almost all of it was shipped to China, according to South Korean government estimates.

The ban comes six days after the North Korean test of a ballistic missile that the Security Council condemned as a violation of its resolutions that prohibited the country from developing and testing ballistic missile technology.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by iamjacksusername on Monday February 20 2017, @03:39PM

    by iamjacksusername (1479) on Monday February 20 2017, @03:39PM (#469282)

    What's China going to do? Get rid of him and then have millions of North Koreans making a mad-dash for the border in the ensuing chaos? Support South Korea?

    Kim Jong Un learned one important lesson from his father and that is knowing exactly how much leash he has. He's not China's ally; he's their asshole friend they have known since childhood. The one who has a drinking problem, hits on all the waitresses whenever they go out even though he is 200lbs and 25 years out of their league, goes on loud semi-racist rants in public places, and is always asking to borrow money. Eventually, China was going to run out of patience and goodwill and realize he is not worth the trouble. North Korea developed nuclear weapons because they knew precisely that: the day would come that China would decide that millions of refugees and chaos on their border was worth it if it meant kicking the Kim family to the curb. The assassination was about making sure that Kim Jong Un was China's only viable plan for a stable North Korea.

    So, China is going to make the best of the situation. They are going to give him a public tongue lashing, maybe cost him a few dollars but that is all that will come of it. The Kim family has been playing this game a long time and they are nothing if not survivors.

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