U.S., China to strengthen cooperation on N. Korea

U.S., China to strengthen cooperation on N. Korea. September. 21, 2016 07:26. by 워싱턴=이승헌 특파원ddr@donga.com. U.S. President Barak Obama and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang came to an agreement in a meeting in New York on Monday local time to cooperate in utilizing “law enforcement channels” to resolve North Korea’s nuclear issue. It is the first time the U.S. and Chinese leaders officially pledged to work with law enforcement channels against North Korea.

Such an agreement between the leaders of the two nations in their first bilateral meeting since North Korea’s fifth nuclear test seems to target Liaoning Hongxiang Industrial, a Chinese conglomerate which has been illegally trading with North Korea, in violation of United Nations Security Council sanctions. A report released on Monday by Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul and C4ADS in Washington named “In China’s Shadow,” said that the Chinese company has smuggled at least four types of nuclear resources including Tungsten trioxide to North Korea.

The U.S. government is preparing for a set of sanctions including secondary boycott (third party sanctions) against Hongxiang Group, which is the first against a Chinese corporate. The most likely measure would be freezing all transactions of dollars between the group and U.S. financial institutions. The Chinese conglomerate has maintained partnership with U.S. companies, exporting a total of 2,491 tons of glass products to 15 American businesses between January 2011 and September 2015.

The U.S. Department of Justice plans to take legal actions against Dandong Hongxiang Industrial Development Corporation, the main affiliate of Hongxiang Group to sell nuclear resources to North Korea, within this week under cooperation by the Chinese authorities. The DoJ sent its prosecutors to Beijing twice last month to warn the severity of illegal actions conducted by Hongxiang Industrial and the group’s representative Ma Xiaohong (45), asking for cooperation. Radio Free Asia (RFA) quoted a Chinese official saying that the corporation seems to be involved in tax evasion, money laundering, trading counterfeit dollars and drugs.

Although the Chinese authorities have recently tightened sanctions against the North, by freezing Hongxiang Industrial’s assets, but it is uncertain whether they will fully cooperate with the U.S. to effectively pressure North Korea. The Wall Street Journal pointed out that “China is not responding to the U.S. government’s request to share data related to the frozen assets,” condemning China for being reluctant to impose all-out sanctions against North Korea. Some Washington experts are skeptical of Beijing’s intentions, predicting that it will only partially cooperate with Washington considering the pressure from the international community, but may end up scapegoating Hongxiang group rather than cutting overall financial support for its neighbor.