Blog
North Korea and the COVID Crisis: The Sanctions Angle
Humanitarian disasters in closed, authoritarian regimes pose particular challenges to the international community. Government actions can exacerbate or even create crises; this was certainly true of the great famine of the early 1990s. Yet the victims of the regime’s choices are innocents, including overstretched but dedicated doctors and health care workers. If the sanctions regime is impeding an outside humanitarian response, it needs to be adjusted–and quickly. There is evidence—outlined below—that sanctions exemptions are being granted to multilateral institutions and NGOS with greater speed. But by sheer proximity, China and South Korea are best positioned to play a role, and should exploit the discretion they are being given to act.
The China-Russia Security Council Resolution Part 1: Sanctions Relief
As 2020 gets underway, it is hard to avoid the obvious: diplomacy surrounding the Korean peninsula is stuck. The core question that divides the parties is—as it has long been—a tactical one. Are North Korea and the United States willing to trade incremental moves on the nuclear issue for partial sanctions relief?
The Report on the 5th Plenary Meeting of the 7th Central Committee Part 2: The Economic Message
I argued yesterday that the report of the party plenum was an attempted exercise in leverage; to hold out the threat of ongoing missile and nuclear developments—and as far as the eye can see—to extract concessions. But the report also suggests that the regime’s frustration stems from the fact that sanctions are having material effect.
The Report on the 5th Plenary Meeting of the 7th Central Committee Part 1: The Belated Christmas Gift
In lieu of a New Year’s speech, Kim Jong -un convened an unusual plenum of the Central Committee in December, issuing a widely-distributed Report on the meeting in its stead. What was said—and what it augurs for 2020—are considered in two parts: the bargaining with the United States, which has gotten most attention, and the economic messages—taken up tomorrow–which are equally if not more important.