UNITED NATIONS, August 7. /TASS/. The UN Security Council Committee that monitors adherence to sanctions against Pyongyang, has approved Russia’s initiative on creation of a humanitarian exemption mechanism regarding those restrictions, according to the document obtained by TASS that was passed on Monday.
"The mechanism has been spearheaded by Russia," a UN diplomatic source told TASS. "It implies that UN member-states, non-governmental and international organizations involved in humanitarian activities in the DPRK will be able to apply to the UN Security Council’s1718 Committee for exemption of certain goods from the sanctions list," he explained, adding that those applications would be considered on a case-by-case basis.
According to the UN Security Council Committee’s notice, the mechanism is "intended to provide a clear explanation of its comprehensive humanitarian exemption mechanism, as authorized in paragraph 25 of Security Council resolution 2397, by offering guidance and recommendations on how to submit humanitarian exemption requests to the Committee in accordance with the relevant resolutions."
The Committee may use that mechanism to exempt any activity from the measures imposed by these resolutions on a case-by-case basis, "if the Committee determines that such an exemption is necessary to facilitate the work of such organizations in the DPRK, or for any other purpose consistent with the objectives of these resolutions," the document said. It also provides a format for those humanitarian exemption requests and inter alia clarifies the channels through which such requests can be submitted to the Committee for approval, and contains guidance on the timing and consolidation of planned shipments of humanitarian goods.
Russian position
Russia’s ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora gave a talk at a closed meeting of the UN Security Council’s committee on sanctions against Pyongyang in February. He said then that the humanitarian situation in North Korea was deteriorating due to sanctions as it was next to impossible to supply food, medications and medical equipment to the country.
On July 20, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky told TASS after a meeting with US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and representatives for the Security Council, that Moscow urges the UN Security Council to make moves towards North Korea throughout the denuclearization process. He confirmed that the matter in question is to ease the sanctions pressure through the UN Security Council, as well as to lift unilateral US sanctions.
Concurrently, representatives of the American establishment have repeatedly stressed the necessity to maintain and tighten the sanctions pressure on the DPRK.
UN sanctions
In September 2017, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution tightening sanctions on North Korea in response to the country’s sixth nuclear test. The US-drafted document was supported by all members of the Security Council, including Russia and China. The new resolution, numbered 2375, bans the exports of textiles from North Korea, imposes an embargo on gas condensate deliveries to the country, and cuts the imports of refined petroleum products to two million barrels per year (starting 2018).