Signs of a growing divide between communist neighbours as Beijing tightens sanctions against Pyongyang, analysts say
Pyongyang’s broadside against Beijing over China’s decision last week to suspend imports of North Korean coal this year has yet again laid bare a growing division between the two communist allies. State-controlled Korean Central News Agency, which has largely kept quiet over the past week, finally broke the embarrassing silence and slammed Beijing for colluding with “hostile forces in conspiracies to bring down” the North Korean regime. Such outbursts, according to diplomatic observers, are an unmistakable sign that the heat has been felt in Pyongyang. Beijing’s belated move to tighten international sanctions on the unruly North Korean leader Kim Jong-un followed a United Nations resolution in November. Although it was not the first time Beijing had taken steps to punish Pyongyang by cutting imports of coal, the country’s single biggest export and source of hard currency, it was widely seen as one of the toughest by far, signalling Beijing’s growing unease with its neighbour’s nuclear weapons programme. The last time China banned North Korean coal imports was in April last year, a month after UN Resolution 2270 was passed in response to Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test and satellite launch. But that resolution contained an exception clause, allowing trade in North Korean coal for “livelihood purposes”. Thanks to the loophole, Beijing made exceptions for North Korean coal intended for household use, a move widely criticised by the United States and its allies as undermining the effectiveness of the resolution. Coal is estimated to take up as much as 40 per cent of North Korea’s exports to China, Pyongyang’s biggest trading partner.
