For new sanctions to work,US must play positive role

In what for diplomats in Beijing is a major achievement, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution which many believe would at once lower the likelihood of war, and convey a warning to Pyongyang.

Resolution 2397, the 10th UN Security Council has passed imposing sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is in the first place a sign of international solidarity against Pyongyang's nuclear and missile program. That, despite their differences, member countries have agreed to up the ante by imposing tougher sanctions reflects they still believe a peaceful, political, diplomatic solution to the Korean Peninsula problem is possible.

Given the resolution's meticulous detail, avoiding to inflict humanitarian losses and impair normal economic activities, the latest sanctions would prove a low-cost approach if they succeed in prompting Pyongyang back to the negotiation table. But for that to happen, the sanctions have to be enforced by all stakeholders in good faith, as Pyongyang appears determined and perhaps desperate to become a strong nuclear power.

The resolution did send a clear message to Pyongyang: the international community remains united — and is more determined — in stopping its nuclear/missile provocations and in denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, and it can achieve it peacefully.

Mixed as it is, the DPRK's response reveals considerable ambivalence. On the one hand, it has condemned the fresh sanctions as an "act of war" "tantamount to complete economic blockade", claiming again that nuclear deterrence is the only way to deal with the United States. On the other hand, it just decided to open a new "economic development zone" in Pyongyang to attract overseas investments.

Obviously, the DPRK can't have it both ways. It has to choose one or the other — definitely not both. It can't expect meaningful foreign investment with UN sanctions in place. It cannot use opening up economically as a ploy to undermine UN sanctions.

Beijing and Moscow have worked tirelessly to make sure the peninsula nuclear issue is resolved peacefully, without any political or economic implosion in the DPRK. If their own security interests have made China and Russia work tirelessly to seek a peaceful resolution, they will also prompt the two countries to prevent a nuclear-armed DPRK.

If Pyongyang chooses to repeat its stock tricks in defiance of the collective will of the international community, and Resolution 2379 does not yield expected results, there will be a collective move to further tighten the noose.

What happens next hinges to a great extent not only on what a choice Pyongyang makes, but also how Washington acts. And surely Pyongyang will view statements such as the one made by US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley on Friday as a provocation. If Washington is really sincere about bringing Pyongyang back to the negotiation table — which the international community certainly is — US officials should think before they talk.