North Korea: EU aligns sanctions with latest UN Security Council resolution

The Council increased the restrictive measures against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) by finalising the transposition into EU law of the measures imposed by the latest UN Security Council resolution 2397 (2017). 

The measures transposed today include:

• the strengthening of the export ban to the DPRK of all refined petroleum products by reducing the amount of barrels that may be exported from 2 million barrels to 500,000 barrels per year;
• a ban on imports from the DPRK of food and agricultural products, machinery, electrical equipment, earth and stone, and wood;
• a ban on exports to the DPRK of all industrial machinery, transportation vehicles, and expansion to all iron, steel and other metals;
• further maritime restrictive measures against vessels where there are reasonable grounds to believe that the vessel has been involved in the breach of UN sanctions;
• the requirement to repatriate all DPRK workers abroad within 24 months, subject to applicable national and international law.

The full prohibition on the export of crude oil provided for in resolution 2397 (2017) had already been introduced in the EU on 16 October 2017. 

When it adopted the measures, the UN Security Council reaffirmed in its resolution 2397 (2017) that the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as their means of delivery, constitute a threat to international peace and security. The EU has repeatedly expressed its expectation that the DPRK engage in a credible and meaningful dialogue aimed at pursuing the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.  

The legal acts adopted today by the Council also took into account that 3 persons and one entity listed by the EU autonomously were now listed by the UN. The number of persons and entities under restrictive measures against the DPRK is 79 persons and 54 entities as listed by the UN and 55 persons and 9 entities designated by the EU autonomously.

The additional listings imposed by the UNSC resolution 2397 (2017) were transposed into EU law on 8 January 2018. The EU had added an additional 17 individuals to its own sanctions list on 22 January 2018.

The EU implements all UN Security Council resolutions adopted in response to the DPRK’s nuclear programmes and nuclear weapons, other weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes, and works to ensure their effective implementation by all UN states. In addition, the EU has imposed autonomous restrictive measures against the DPRK, complementing and reinforcing the UN sanctions regime.

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