China bans supplies of petroleum products to N. Korea

China on Saturday imposed a limit on the supplies of petroleum products to North Korea and imports of textiles from the country under U.N. sanctions over its nuclear and missile development.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry said it would ban exports of condensate and liquefied natural gas to North Korea and limit textile imports from the North, starting 12 a.m. Saturday, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
The ministry, however, made it clear that crude oil is not subject to the ban.
"We will not carry out export procedures of related products from 12 a.m. on the day of announcement and these products will be uniformly put on the list of prohibited export items in the future," it said.
China also decided to limit exports of refined petroleum products to North Korea from Oct. 1 in line with the export ceiling imposed under the U.N. Security Council Resolution No. 2375.
The new U.N. resolution requires exports of petroleum products to the North be limited to 500,000 barrels or 60,000 tons, from October 1 to December. 31 and 2 million barrels or 240,000 tons per year starting January 1, Yonhap added.
Prohibition of the imports of North Korean textiles should be carried out immediately from the date of announcement, and for the volume of transactions that have been concluded prior to the passage of the U.N. resolution, the import procedure must be completed by Dec. 10, the ministry said.
China is Pyongyang's major ally and trading partner, but in recent months has come under growing pressure to rein in its wayward neighbour.
"The Chinese authority announced the measures to implement the U.N. Security Council resolution approved on Sept. 11," a diplomatic source in Beijing said. "The limit on crude oil exports seems to have been excluded from this announcement due to statistical reasons."

Source: BNA