U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (right) smiles brightly at a joint press conference following his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left) at the State Department building in Washington D.C. on February 23 (local time). On February 24, the White House announced that the U.S. and China had reached an agreement on the UN Security Council resolution on sanctions against North Korea. Washington D.C. / AP News
On February 24 (local time), the White House announced that the U.S. had reached an agreement with China on the United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution on sanctions against North Korea.
Ned Price, spokesperson for the National Security Council announced that United States National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had agreed to adopt a resolution that went a step further than previous UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea's provocations and also agreed that it was important for the international community to show a strong and united response.
The UN resolution, which was described as "unprecedentedly strong" even before it was released, was from start to finish the result of negotiations between the U.S. and China. This symbolically showed that the fate of the Korean Peninsula lied in the hands of these two countries. Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a meeting in Washington D.C. on February 23 and finally put a period mark on a fifty-day negotiation. The two men met three times during this time to narrow their differences. A month ago, they engaged in a heated debate over this issue for six hours in Beijing.
United Nations Security Council meeting / United Nations website
The U.S. and China have conflicting views on the territorial issue in the South China Sea, human rights, and online security, but the two countries still have many areas which they need to cooperate on such as the global economy, trade between the two countries, climate change and the Iran nuclear agreement. A major premise existed, that the two countries could not let North Korea, just one among many issues, damage their strategic partnership. On February 24, when Wang Yi met with Rice at the White House, President Obama made a surprise appearance and what he said clearly shows this. President Obama did not mention a word on North Korea and instead stressed his interest in a constructive and productive relationship with China and said that he was looking forward to Chinese President Xi Jinping's presence at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington at the end of March.
South Korea was not totally absent in the process of reaching the latest agreement. South Korea could not join the discussions, since it is not a member of the Security Council, but it still took part as the National Intelligence Service (NIS) provided the U.S. with intelligence on China's economic exchanges with North Korea. It also pressured China that it would shut down the Kaesong Industrial Complex and open discussions on deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se raised his voice saying, "This time, it will be the last resolution." But in the process, the Park Geun-hye government stressed its difference with previous governments and ended up crumbling South Korea's relations with China, which we had painstakingly fostered. Due to the closure of Kaesong, South Korean businesses suffered, and the inter-Korean communication channel has been cut off.
If the resolution, which will be adopted a few days from now, is evaluated as an "unprecedentedly strong" resolution by the international community, the United States' independent sanctions against North Korea are likely to be weaker than expected. The South Korean foreign ministry announced that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russell would visit South Korea on February 26 and 27 to discuss cooperation on measures concerning North Korea including the UN resolution. The two countries are expected to discuss independent and bilateral sanctions to complement the UN resolution. China's chief delegate at the six-party talks Wu Dawei, also the foreign ministry's special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs will visit South Korea on February 28 and meet with Hwang Joon-gook, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs to discuss responses to North Korea's nuclear program after the UN resolution.