Japan, US mull UNSC sanctions on North Korean garments

Japan and the United States are mulling over a proposal to include export restrictions on North Korean textile products in a new UN Security Council sanctions resolution, a Japanese news agency reported recently. The planned move aims at cutting off the communist state’s sources of foreign currency as textile goods are one of its major exports.

This follows Pyongyang’s firing of a ballistic missile over northern Japan on August 29. The apparent size of the North Korean textiles business makes it a potential target for future sanctions, experts say.

Analysts feel the current sanctions on North Korean coal, iron ore and seafood imply garments would make up a larger share of trade between the two countries.

The exports of North Korean textile products, believed mostly to China, was $752 million last year, about 30 per cent of its total exports, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, a South Korean Government organization. China reportedly accounts for about nine-tenths of North Korea's foreign trade.

Chinese companies are stepping up their use of North Korean factories to make clothes that are then stamped as ‘Made in China’ and exported overseas, as per a report by a top global news wire. Garments are produced by joint ventures involving both sides or by North Korean companies under contract to Chinese firms.