Oil Exempt In Fresh Sanctions On North Korea

U.S. President Donald Trump announced additional sanctions on North Korea today, but the sanctions do not include crude oil.

The announcement came after word that oil would be exempt in the new round of sanctions, a senior administration official told Reuters earlier on Thursday.

“We will be putting more sanctions on North Korea,” Trump told reporters in New York, Bloomberg reported earlier today.

In the new sanctions, Trump gave the U.S. treasury the authority to target specific companies and financial institutions conducting business with the North, adding that China's Central Bank has now instructed other Chinese banks to stop doing business with the North.

At the beginning of last week, following North Korea’s nuclear test on September 2, the UN Security Council banned the supply, sale, or transfer of all condensates and natural gas liquids to North Korea, and banned Pyongyang’s exports of textiles such as fabrics and apparel products. The latest sanctions, however, do not impose a full oil embargo as the U.S. called for in recent weeks. The sanctions instead cap refined petroleum products and crude oil supply, after the U.S. dropped its demand for a full oil ban in order to avoid a Chinese veto of the UN resolution.

Last Friday, North Korea launched its second missile over Japan in one month.

In his speech to the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week, President Trump said:

“The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime.”

“It is time for North Korea to realize that the denuclearization is its only acceptable future. The United Nations Security Council recently held two unanimous 15-0 votes adopting hard-hitting resolutions against North Korea, and I want to thank China and Russia for joining the vote to impose sanctions, along with all of the other members of the Security Council…But we must do much more. It is time for all nations to work together to isolate the Kim regime until it ceases its hostile behavior,” President Trump went on to add.  

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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