The Chinese Foreign Ministry asserted that its efforts to contain North Korea are “earnest and serious,” while Chinese state media called President Donald Trump’s accusations of illicit oil trade with Pyongyang “absurd” and “irresponsible” on Friday.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Sunday declaring the latest round of U.N. sanctions an “act of war” equivalent to a “complete economic blockade,” and threatening the safety of the United States unless it accepts North Korea as a nuclear nation.
The United Nations Security Council Friday imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea in a unanimous 15-0 vote on a U.S.-drafted resolution – complicating the narrative that the U.S. has isolated itself over its decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
If the South Korean analysts quoted by Yonhap News are correct, North Korea will not be having a Happy New Year. According to the Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul, tough international sanctions imposed against North Korea over its nuclear missile programs haven’t affected the economy much yet, but that is about to change.
Australian authorities arrested a man on Saturday on extraordinary charges of assisting North Korea with its drive to develop weapons of mass destruction. He was identified on Monday as 59-year-old Chan Han Choi, a naturalized Australian citizen born in South Korea.
Japan imposed additional sanctions against North Korea this week as the rogue communist state continues to advance its nuclear strategy.
Speaking from a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo on Saturday, Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil called for “pre-emptive measures” against the U.S. decision to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. He said this should begin with “diplomatic measures” and then proceed to “political, then economic and financial sanctions” against the United States.
Russia has rejected U.S. calls to cut economic and diplomatic ties with North Korea after the dictatorship’s latest provocative missile test. In fact, the Russians made a point of ridiculing the effectiveness of sanctions and blaming the United States for rising tensions on the Korean peninsula.
WASHINGTON, DC – Former Sen. Joseph Lieberman and retired General Charles Wall laid out their visions for the “the way forward” regarding the United States’ policy on Iran during a panel discussion at the National Press Club on Tuesday.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions this week on 13 entities believed to do business with North Korea, including four Chinese companies and one Chinese citizen.
Sudan formally announced on Thursday that it would cut ties with North Korea, the U.S. State Department confirmed. The Trump administration has worked to isolate North Korea on the global stage.
The European Union approved sanctions and an arms embargo against Venezuela on Monday in an attempt to deter the country’s rapid descent into dictatorship.
The United States Congress is considering a bill that would impose sanctions against Shiite militia groups in Iraq that act as proxy forces for Iran.
The number of dual American and foreign nationals found skirting United States sanctions law to conduct business in Iran is growing, raising questions regarding how many more such cases exist and how the Trump administration will work toward limiting their access to Iran.
The chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said Tuesday that Iran does not need to extend its range of missiles because they already reach far enough to strike American forces deployed in the Middle East if the Islamic Republic experiences aggression from the U.S.
TEHRAN – Iran’s president on Sunday said his country would continue building weapons including developing missiles as the United States prepares new sanctions over its ballistic missile programme.
The U.S. State Department and Treasury announced on Thursday the expansion of personal sanctions against high-ranking North Korean officials, following the publication of a report accusing them of extreme human rights violations including rape, torture, and use of slave labor.
Iran’s response to President Trump’s decertification of the nuclear deal, teased all week and finally made official on Friday, includes a mixture of belligerent rhetoric, ominous threats, and uncertainty about whether the deal can survive.
If Trump blesses the Iran deal, Iran will march ever closer toward the soon-to-be inevitable prospect of nuclear power.
The U.N. Security Council issued a worldwide port ban on Monday against four ships said to have carried prohibited North Korean cargo in defiance of sanctions. According to U.N. panel coordinator Hugh Griffiths, “this is the first time in U.N. history” that such an all-ports ban has been issued.
The deadline to renew or reject the Iran nuclear deal brokered by President Barack Obama is approaching, and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) argued Monday it is also time for President Donald’s Trump’s national security team to back his plan to pull out of the deal or get out of the White House.
The State Department announced the anticipated easing of most sanctions against the war-torn African regional power Sudan Friday, claiming the increasing compliance of perennial pariah Omar al-Bashir’s regime in international affairs, effective October 12.
The Washington Post reported Sunday on the surprising results of a United Nations investigation that found Egypt has been surreptitiously buying weapons from North Korea to equip its military.
The always intriguing question of just how tough China is willing to get with North Korea took another turn on Thursday, as China ordered the shutdown of every North Korean business venture in the country within 120 days.
In his Thursday morning appearance on Breitbart News Daily, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton discussed the Gulf State diplomatic impasse with Qatar and China’s apparent willingness to get tougher with North Korea.
North Korea’s primary patrons, China and Russia, are urging restraint and patience as rhetorical exchanges between Washington and Pyongyang grow more heated.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza addressed the United Nations General Assembly Monday after dictator Nicolás Maduro claimed to be “too busy” for the event, delivering a tirade against U.S. President Donald Trump and accusing America of being “the worst violator of human rights” worldwide.
The White House announced further travel restrictions on Venezuelan government officials, as part of a wider crackdown on immigration from countries with high levels of terrorist activity.
Contents: Trump imposes unilateral financial sanctions on North Korea; Sanctions fall far short of military blockade first proposed; North Korea threatens a ‘Pacific Ocean nuclear test’
On Thursday, North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said his nation may soon conduct a hydrogen bomb test over the Pacific Ocean.
Bloomberg News on Wednesday explained that some of China’s reluctance to support strong sanctions against North Korea stems from the losses inflicted on Chinese business interests, especially shops and import/export firms located along the North Korean border.
North Korea may have been attempting to undermine international sanctions when eight ships left Russia with fuel and traveled back to North Korea instead of their declared declarations — possibly in a bid to dodge sanctions on its trade.
North Korea’s latest round of belligerent rhetoric comes from the amusingly named Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, a Pyongyang propaganda outfit that threatened genocide against Japan, continental devastation for the United States, and ruination for the U.N. Security Council in its Thursday dispatch.
President Trump dismissed recent U.N. sanctions on North Korea as “not a big deal” Tuesday and warned that more would have to be done.
North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations railed against the latest sanctions passed by the Security Council on Monday, which cut off part of the nation’s oil industry and bans North Korean citizens who have not defected from working abroad.
The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a softened version of a U.S.-drafted resolution imposing more sanctions on North Korea.
The government of New Zealand has proposed an intelligence-sharing initiative, approved on Friday, with small Pacific island states meant to catch North Korean cargo ships disguised with flags from Vanuatu, Tuvalu, and other regional powers.
Speaking at an economic forum in Vladivostok on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin illustrated the tensions between Russia and the United States with a joke at Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s expense.
TEL AVIV – Israeli warplanes struck targets in central Syria overnight that are believed to be hording chemical weapons, reports in Arab media said Thursday morning. The strike drew a backlash from the Assad regime which warned Israel of “dangerous repercussions of this aggressive action.”
The AFP news agency reported on Wednesday afternoon that a draft U.N. resolution prepared by the United States would impose an oil embargo against North Korea.