Russia’s reported reliance on North Korean slave labor drew a rebuke from the top American diplomat at the United Nations, as the United States seeks to punish support for the pariah regime.
“Talk is cheap — Russia cannot support sanctions with their words in the Security Council only to violate them with their actions,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Friday.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s team is trying to maintain economic pressure on North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in order to ensure the success of negotiations over dismantling his nuclear weapons program. That effort depends on Russian and Chinese enforcement with international sanctions.
“Credible reports of Russia violating UN Security Council resolutions on North Korean laborers working abroad are deeply troubling,” she said. “These reports are especially concerning as they come just one month after Russia refused to acknowledge North Korea’s violations of the UN oil cap and blocked a United States request to enforce sanctions and put a stop to it. Until we see the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea there can be no easing of sanctions.”
Russia denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that the persistence of North Korean labor in the country simply honored contracts negotiated before the passage of the U.N. sanctions.
“[A Russian diplomat] said the laborers were allowed to work in Russia until Nov. 29, 2019 as their work contracts had been signed before sanctions came into force,” according to Reuters, which cited Interfax. “He said 3,500 new work permits had been issued to workers who had signed contracts in Russia before Nov. 29, 2017, Interfax reported.”
Haley’s protest was the second indication Friday that President Trump’s team is prepared to confront Russia more directly over the issue. The Treasury Department also blacklisted a Russian bank for conducting significant financial transactions on behalf of North Korea.
“The United States will continue to enforce U.N. and U.S. sanctions and shut down illicit revenue streams to North Korea,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “Our sanctions will remain in place until we have achieved the final, fully-verified denuclearization of North Korea.”
