1. In response to the sixth nuclear test by North Korea, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted on September 12, New York time, Resolution 2375 on North Korea pursuant to Article 41 (non-military sanctions), Chapter VII of the UN Charter. The resolution calls for tough sanctions against the North.

° Security Council Resolution 2375 consists of ten clauses in the preamble, 33 in the main body and 2 annexes.

※ Resolution 2375 marks the ninth sanctions resolution the Security Council has adopted on North Korea, following Resolutions 1718, 1874, 2087, 2094, 2270, 2321, 2356 and 2371 adopted in 2006, 2009, 2013, 2013, 2016, 2016, 2017, and 2017, respectively.

2. By adopting Security Council Resolution 2375, the entire international community once again expressed its firm resolve to never tolerate North Korea’s nuclear and missile ambitions; and sent to North Korea a stern warning that should it continue launching reckless provocations, it will end up facing a deeper diplomatic isolation and economic pressure.

3. Security Council Resolution 2375 calls for such new sanctions as limiting the amount of oil provided to North Korea and banning North Korean textile exports; for expanding and strengthening the measures included in the previous resolutions; and for subjecting an increased number of individuals and entities to sanctions -- measures seen to be tougher than those under Resolutions 2270, 2321 and 2371.

° In particular, the new resolution facilitates imposing an annual cap of refined petroleum products provided to North Korea -- 500,000 barrels from October till December 2017 and an annual two million barrels from 2018; freezing the current amount of crude oil provided to the North; and banning the supply to the North of all condensates and liquefied natural gas.

※ Under this resolution, some 55% of the refined petroleum products going to North Korea will be cut off, reducing around 30% of the oil supply to the North.

° Under Resolution 2375, North Korea will be banned from exporting textile, and countries will be prohibited from issuing new work permits to North Korean overseas workers, both of which are expected to greatly reduce North Korea’s foreign currency income.

※ North Korea is estimated to earn an annual 760 million US dollars in textile exports.

° In addition, the new resolution calls for prohibiting high-seas, ship-to-ship transfer of prohibited products -- coal, textile and seafood -- in order to block high-seas smuggling of those items; fully banning all joint ventures with North Korea, except for public infrastructure projects; and adding to the blacklist three major North Korean regime organs and one individual.

* The organs and the individual are the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party, the Organizational Guidance Department, the Propaganda and Agitation Department, and Park Yeong-sik, a member of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party.

4. The government of the Republic of Korea, under its stern position that North Korea’s reckless and irresponsible nuclear test cannot be tolerated under any circumstances, made necessary diplomatic efforts in close coordination with member states of the Security Council toward an early adoption of the strong Security Council resolution.

° Going forward, the ROK government will thoroughly implement Resolution 2375 and all the other Security Council sanctions resolutions on North Korea in continued efforts to achieve a fundamental denuclearization of North Korea and to establish a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.


* unofficial translation