Beijing cuts off oil supply to North Korea for four months

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-05-29

South Korean president Park Geun-hye gives a speech at Beijing's
Tsinghua University, June 29, 2013. (File photo/CNS)

China has stopped oil exports to North Korea for four months in an attempt to halt the country from continuing its nuclear development program; the move also aims to strengthen China's ties with South Korea to form an alliance against Japan, reports Duowei News, an outlet run by overseas Chinese.

Following the suspension of oil exports, trade between China and North Korea was around US$179 billion between January and April, 2.8% lower than the US$224 million-worth of oil China exported to North Korea in same period last year. On average, China exports around 50,000 tonnes of oil a month to North Korea, and around 500,000 tonnes a year.

Ri Tong-il, North Korea's deputy ambassador at the UN, has defied criticism regarding Pyongyang's nuclear program and announced in early May that the country will continue to carry out nuclear tests and launch nuclear missile tests every year.

Beijing has previously attempted to curb Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, negotiating with North Korea to halt its nuclear tests, while suspending oil exports for four months in 2009 after the regime continued to launch missiles and carry out its second nuclear experiment in May of that year.

Duowei News said that Beijing wants to stop Pyongyang's nuclear development since it plays a key role in the stability of northeast Asia, the power balance between China and the United States as well as the fact that it wants to form an anti-Japan alliance with South Korea.

South Korea has leaned toward China as the two countries share historical disputes with Japan, and its president, Park Geun-hye, also needs to resolve North Korea's nuclear issues to reallocate more of its resources to resist Japan, Duowei said.

China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, recently told Park that China is prepared to shoulder the responsibility of freeing the Korean peninsula of the nuclear threat. Wang made the comments during their meeting at the Blue House, the presidential office in Seoul, on May 26.

However, North Korea is unlikely to suffer serious consequences from Beijing's oil moves, Duowei said, as it continues to receive aid and loans at low interest rates from China. Meanwhile, around 500,000 tonnes of oil was said have entered North Korea from China through alternative ways, Duowei added.