Security committee does not enforce, only oversees, says policy analyst
The U.N Security Council needs to adopt a new resolution if it wants to suspend inter-Korean cooperation projects, according to a U.S. expert on North Korea. The remarks come amid divisions between Security Council member nations over how to enforce sanctions following Pyongyang's nuclear test. "It would take another resolution by the Security Council to take the policy and political decision not to permit that kind of activity," said Jeffrey Laurenti, a senior North Korea policy analyst at the Century Foundation, in an interview with Radio Free Asia on October 26. His comments were referring to the joint Korean industrial complex located in the North's border town of Gaeseong (Kaesong). He explained that such a move by the newly-established U.N committee overseeing implementation of the sanctions should inevitably be subject to Security Council deliberation since it would be a decision covering both policy and politics. The remarks come as some argue that the U.N. committee's main job is to review sanctions, not to enforce them on its own. He said that South Korea and China could avoid referring the issue to the council again, so long as they enlist support from the U.N . committee on their stance that trade with North Korea does not fund its military development.On October 14, the U.N. Security Council adopted the resolution following the North's nuclear test on October 9, which came in defiance of warnings from the international community against it. The U.S. and Japan are pushing for tough sanctions against the North, but South Korea and China remain reluctant to join the move, for fear that it could prompt a military clash, among other worries.
