North Korean companies operating in China are set to be closed down as the Middle Kingdom follows United Nations sanctions in response to its neighbor’s recent nuclear activity.
The decision comes after pressure from the UN Security Council, of which China is a member, as an international response to North Korea’s recent spate of nuclear tests.
The order, which also affects joint North Korean and Chinese owned ventures inside as well as outside the border, has a deadline of 120 days following the announcement, which will come into effect in early January.
Some entities are exempt from this, such as “non-profit, non-commercial utility infrastructure projects” as the statement decrees following a quick translation via Google. Curiously though, as notes the Financial Times, Chinese companies in North Korea haven’t been issued with this same charge.
As the main trading partner of North Korea, China was under intense pressure to follow through on what was a unanimous decision reached by the UN Security Council on September 12 in banning textile exports and capping fuel supplies, among other sanctions.
These sanctions marked the ninth time the Security Council had taken resolutions against North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs since 2006, as tensions in US and North Korean relations rise.
US President and undeniable "dotard" Donald Trump will no doubt be elated at the news. Earlier this week he thanked China for measures relating to the restriction of operation of banking entities in the country, in yet another effort to try and rein in the rogue nation.
[Image via CNN]
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