North and South Korea want to explore reconnecting their rail and road systems as part of efforts to ease tensions in the region. The South needed an exemption from the United Nations sanctions regime for that to happen.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/K. Jae-Hwan
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The UN Security Council has granted an exemption to sanctions on North Korea to permit a joint survey on connecting its railway system with South Korea, Seoul said Saturday.
The exemption allows the South to export fuel and other goods to the North, but would still preclude either side from starting work on linking the two systems.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed on the survey plan during a summit earlier this year.
The creation of an inter-Korean rail system would require billions of dollars in investments in the North's outdated railway network, according to experts.
Seoul and Pyongyang plan to hold a ceremony to mark the linkage of their transport systems at the end of the year.
US sanctions and who they target
The US serves as a cornerstone of global trade and sometimes uses this position to punish rival nations. DW looks into key restrictions that Washington currently imposes on Iran, Cuba, Russia, North Korea and Syria.
Image: Imago
Iran
US sanctions on Iran target Tehran's trade in gold and precious metals, block the sales of passenger jets and restrict Iran's purchase of US dollars, among other punitive measures. The US has also blocked Iran's key oil sales in a further tranche of sanctions, which came into force in November 2018.
Impoverished North Korea is under a UN-backed embargo, but Washington also maintains an extensive regime of sanctions of its own. For example, the US strictly bans exporting weapons to the pariah state. Washington also uses its global clout to penalize non-US banks and companies that do business with Pyongyang.
Image: AFP/Getty Images/S. Marai
Syria
Washington trade restrictions prevent the regime of President Bashar Assad from exporting Syrian oil to the US. All property and assets of the Syrian government in the US have been frozen. Americans, wherever in the world they might be, are banned from "new investment" in the war-torn country, according to the US Treasury.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Esiri
Russia
The US blacklisted scores of high-ranking Russian officials and businessmen after the 2014 Crimea crisis, stopping them from traveling to the US and freezing their assets. The comprehensive sanctions list includes goods from the Russian-annexed region, such as wine. New sanctions imposed in the aftermath of the Skripal poisoning in March 2018 target sensitive national security and defense goods.
Image: Imago
Cuba
American tourists began flocking to Cuba immediately after the Obama administration initiated a thaw in relations in 2016. Under Donald Trump, however, the White House reimposed travel restrictions for US citizens, making it much harder for Americans to travel to the island. At least one Obama-era concession is still in place, however: it is still legal to bring Cuban cigars and rum to the US.
