US lawmakers accuse China of helping Pyongyang bypass sanctions

US congressmen accused China of undermining international efforts to halt Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme by funnelling hard currency to North Korea.

Responding to the allegations, Washington’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said she would support “secondary sanctions” to stop North Korea’s military from producing a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile, a move that would target Chinese companies helping to funnel hard currency to its neighbour. Secondary sanctions target companies or organisations conducting any kind of exchanges with countries already subject to punitive UN Security Council resolutions.

Pyongyang is likely to make such ICBMs operational sooner than many experts think, Haley said, due to weapons trade facilitated by China and income produced by North Korean citizens doing forced labour in other countries.

“You are more optimistic saying it is multiple years before an ICBM comes forward. I think it’s going to happen sooner because they are on target to do that and they continue to use their people for those violations,” Haley said in a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, in response to questions from the committee’s chairman, Representative Ed Royce.