Chinese media: Sanctions cannot resolve North Korea nuclear crisis

SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Sanctions are not the answer to the North Korean nuclear crisis, Chinese media said on Monday.

According to China's state-run Global Times, local security experts said the latest United Nations sanctions are likely to cause a major impact on North Korea's political and economic spheres but the measures "cannot shake the foundation."

The reclusive state "has low dependency on external trade and has the ability to recover itself," the daily reported.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously voted to pass Resolution 2397 on Friday, as a response to Pyongyang's launch of the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile on November 29.

The measures aim to cut the regime's refined petroleum imports by 89 percent and its source of foreign currency earned by North Koreans working abroad.

The document has been the tenth U.N. resolution to impose sanctions on the regime since 2006.

China Daily also commented on the recent round of sanctions, saying it is just as unlikely to succeed in curbing the North's nuclear and missile program as the measures that preceded it in the last ten years.

Growing pressure from the international community has rather caused the regime to accelerate its efforts to miniaturize a nuclear warhead and develop various missile technologies, the commentary said.

It attributed the failure of U.N. sanctions to the lack of options provided to the North as alternative means of national security.

Overcoming enmity between the United States and North Korea is the first crucial step to resolving the nuclear crisis, it said, adding that peace talks should begin to provide diplomatic solutions and that Pyongyang's concerns on security must be taken into consideration.