Sanctions Imposed, but Not Enforced

A day after the Council unanimously passed the resolution, following nearly a week of intensive diplomatic negotiations, the South Korean government said it would still pursue economic projects with North Korea, including an industrial zone and tourist resort in the North. Those projects are not explicitly covered by the Security Council resolution, but they are an important source of hard currency for the North.

China, which shares a 870-mile porous border with North Korea and is perhaps its most critical economic gateway to the outside world, said Saturday that it had no intention of stopping and inspecting cross-border shipments, as called for, but not specifically required, in the resolution…

The relative silence on Sunday about how the resolution would be enforced, coupled with the vagaries of the resolution itself, raised concerns that the Security Council action would not have much of an impact for the foreseeable future.

China is already reluctant to enforce the sanctions that were just imposed by the UN Security Council after being watered down after objections by Russia and China. Now it appears that South Korea is also unwilling to enforce even this modest step.

Their reasons are simple. One reason is that they fear that the sanctions might take down the regime too quickly, and the resulting flood of millions of refugees would harm both China and South Korea. Neither wants that to happen, so they're moving cautiously. South Korea may be like the frog in a pot of water slowly coming to a boil. It doesn't appear to recognize the seriousness of the situation, and it is trying to buy more time by buying off North Korea through more economic deals and staving off the inevitable, though it does nothing to stop Kim from pursuing his weapons programs and providing technical and material support to the unsavory regimes around the world, including the potential of arming terror groups with such weapons and technology.

Allah at Hot Air doesn't like what he sees, and smells coming from North Korea, China, and South Korea. Appeasement is in the air, and it smells like victory for North Korea that is.

UPDATE:
Has China begun enforcing sanctions by inspecting cargo entering North Korea? That appears to be happening, though one has to wonder what made them change their minds in light of the earlier stories to the contrary. Has the US exerted pressure to make them realize the seriousness of the situation? Perhaps a reminder that the US economy is the one that makes China tick, not North Korea?

UPDATE:
China has also been building a fence with it ornery neighbor, which is an ongoing project. The fence is to keep the North Koreans from coming into China, where many have tried to seek asylum from the totalitarian and evil Kim regime. This op-ed just barely scrapes the surface of the horrors inflicted by the North Korean thugs on its citizenry since the 1950s.