China halts North Korea coal imports
China will suspend all imports of coal from North Korea for the rest of the year, Beijing said yesterday, depriving Pyongyang of a crucial source of foreign exchange following its latest missile test.
"(China) will temporarily stop its imports of coal from North Korea for the rest of this year (including coal for which customs applications have been made but not yet processed)," the commerce ministry said in a statement posted on its website.
The statement said the suspension was in accordance with existing UN sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programmes and would come in to force on Sunday and remain until the end of the year.
The decision came less than a week after North Korea's latest missile test, as tensions escalate over the reclusive state's defiance of UN resolutions.
North Korea's launch came just after a conciliatory phone chat between US President Donald Trump and his counterpart Xi Jinping of China -- the North's only major ally.
The United Nations Security Council, which includes China, sharply castigated Pyongyang last Monday for the missile test a day earlier, describing it as a "grave violation" of UN resolutions and threatening "further significant measures".
The rocket launch was the first since Trump came to power and was seen as a challenge to the new American leader, who has vowed a strong response.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday used his first meeting with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to urge Beijing "to use all available tools to moderate North Korea's destabilising behaviour".
Pyongyang is barred under UN resolutions from carrying out ballistic missile launches or nuclear tests.
North Korea blasted off a series of missiles and conducted two nuclear tests in 2016 in its quest to develop a weapons system capable of hitting the US mainland.
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