Experts who study North Korea say that Google dealt them a “crippling blow” recently by shutting down two YouTube channels that broadcast the Hermit Kingdom’s propaganda, but a source inside the tech giant says the company’s “hands were tied” by U.S. sanctions.
The first channel to disappear on September 8 was Uriminzokkiri, which many analysts believe is a state-run operation out of China. A short message on YouTube says it was “terminated due to a legal complaint.” The second channel, Tonpomail, believed to be controlled by ethnic Koreans based in Japan, was finally taken down on September 12 “for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines.”
Publicly, Google has cited violations of its community guidelines and terms of service. Privately, sources at Google and YouTube who were briefed on the takedowns told VICE News the move was related to sanctions imposed by the U.S. government. [VICE News]
You can read more at the link, but according to the article open source analysts are not happy with the shutdown because it removes a window into North Korea for them to look at. North Korea has found ways to get around many other sanctions, I am sure they will find a way to get around Youtube.
It appears that some in Congress want to force China to make a tough decision of either supporting the Kim regime or remain part of the international banking system:
Frustrated U.S. lawmakers called on Tuesday for a high-powered response to North Korea’s nuclear tests, saying Washington should act alone if necessary to stiffen sanctions on companies from China, Russia and any country doing business with Pyongyang.
“I believe the response from the United States and our allies should be supercharged,” said Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.
“We need to use every ounce of leverage … to put maximum pressure on this rogue regime,” the Republican congressman told a hearing on North Korea. “Time is running out.” (……)
“We can designate Chinese banks and companies unilaterally, giving them a choice between doing business with North Korea or the United States,” said Royce, who had breakfast on Tuesday with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
“We should go after banks and companies in other countries that do business with North Korea the same way,” he said. [Reuters]
As expected the United Nations sanctions in response to North Korea’s nuclear test have been watered down by the Russians and the Chinese. The cuts in oil imports and ban on textile exports will inconvenience the Kim regime, but I see nothing in these sanctions that will be a game changer in regards to changing the current status quo on the peninsula which is what the Chinese and Russians want to maintain:
Nikki Haley, left, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Liu Jieyi, right, China’s ambassador to the United Nations, vote in favor of a Security Council resolution to impose fresh sanctions on North Korea over its latest nuclear test at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday. [XINHUA/YONHAP]The UN Security Council on Monday unanimously adopted new sanctions against North Korea following its sixth nuclear test, imposing a cap on exports of crude oil to the country, though it fell short of a complete ban.
The 15-member council based in New York approved Resolution 2375, which imposes a cap on the supply, sales or transfer of crude oil to North Korea to the level of the past 12 months, some 4 million barrels, and limits exports of refined petroleum products to the country to 2 million barrels a year. It also bans the sale of condensates and natural gas liquids to the North.
However, the latest resolution fell short of the complete oil embargo called for in an earlier U.S.-drafted resolution, which would have needed the support of veto-wielding members China and Russia.
The resolution, though considered a watered-down version of the U.S. draft, will reduce oil provided to North Korea by around 30 percent, according to the U.S. mission to the United Nations, and cut off over 55 percent of refined petroleum products going to the country. China is the largest supplier of crude oil to the North.
It also includes a ban on North Korean textile exports, which was the country’s second largest export category in 2016 after coal and other minerals, and is expected to reduce its revenues by up to $800 million.
The latest resolution does not include North Korean leader Kim Jong-un or his sister on its blacklist, as initially proposed. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
A ROK Drop favorite Andrei Lankov explains why Russia is going to attempt to water down United Nations sanctions on North Korea or veto them all together and it has nothing to do with Putin taking an anti-US position:
Andrei Lankov
Vladimir Putin was right when he recently said that even if North Koreans have to eat grass, they will not surrender nuclear weapons (of course, in North Korea the people who make decisions on nuclear weapons are far removed from the people who would have no choice but to eat grass).
However, there is the probability that a really harsh sanctions regime will eventually provoke a grave political crisis and revolution in North Korea: instead of eating grass, the people will rebel.
For American observers, who will watch enthusiastic TV reports about a North Korean revolution in safety, this development, as long as it does not trigger a region-wide war, will be welcome. After all, regime collapse will bring about the complete solution of the North Korean nuclear issue, the U.S.’s overwhelming concern.
However, Russia and China, inconveniently located on the border with North Korea, have reasons to be unenthusiastic about prospects of a Syria-like or Libya-like situation, anarchy and civil war in a nuclear-armed country nearby. For Moscow – and, for that matter, for Beijing – a collapsing North Korea is a greater threat than a nuclear one, however bad a nuclear North Korea is. [NK News]
You can read the rest of the analysis at the link.
Image of North Korean ship detained in 2013 in Panama. [CNN]
The proposed U.S. sanctions would also freeze all foreign financial assets of the government and its leader, Kim Jong Un. The U.S. draft also identified nine ships that have carried out activities prohibited by previous U.N. resolutions and would authorize any U.N. member state to stop these vessels on the high seas without their consent and use “all necessary measures” — which in U.N. language includes force — to carry out an inspection and direct the vessel to a port.
Professor Joseph DeThomas of Pennsylvania State University, a former U.S. ambassador and State Department official who dealt with North Korea, said the U.S. demand for quick council action is “an indicator of how the administration thinks time has run out.”
“My sense is they believe that they don’t have time for a delicate diplomatic dance,” he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday. “The other possibility … is they want to see the color of China’s money. They’re putting down the marker here and saying ‘OK, Are you prepared to do what is necessary to put pressure on North Korea at a moment when we’re simply out of time?'” [Associated Press]
Guess which year the NYT printed the below about NK. 2017? Wrong! 2013? Wrong! 2019? That's in the future! 2006? Wrong! 1994? You got it! pic.twitter.com/opjzFK3IeZ
