With the heaviest international sanctions placed on North Korea over the regime's missile and nuclear programs,... the Wall Street Journal says Pyongyang is starting to "feel the sting".
Lee Seung-jae reports.
China, a nation which has long been criticized by the U.S. for supporting North Korea,... appears to be ramping up enforcement of international sanctions, which the U.S. hopes will force the communist state to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal,... recent sanctions are slamming local Chinese businesses along the border,... and are starting to impact North Korea with factory closures, price rises, and power shortages in some areas.
According to researchers and foreign officials monitoring the North, the impact is likely to intensify this year,... as the regime runs short of foreign currency and could trigger and economic crisis by 2019.
Despite illegal smuggling persisting across the river that forms the border with China,... and on a larger scale at sea,... China's imports from North Korea dropped by a third in 2017,... and in December, were down 82 percent from a year earlier.
In addition, Chinese exports to North Korea declined year-on-year every month since July, with oil-product exports falling to almost zero since October.
And while this may mean losses for China, especially in border regions,... China's foreign ministry says Beijing would continue enforcing UN sanctions.
On Thursday,... North Korea slammed the U.S. for trying to stifle them through sanctions, and stated that President Trump's recent warning of a "phase two" against Pyongyang would not work.
An English-language statement by the North's Foreign Ministry added that they've "prepared their own formula to counter it".
Last week, President Trump warned there would be a second stage of action if the latest U.S. sanctions fail to work.
The new punitive measures target 27 shipping and trade companies, 28 vessels and one individual suspected of helping North Korea evade existing sanctions.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.
