China Orders North Korean Businesses Closed by January

Military vehicles carry missiles with characters reading 'Pukkuksong' during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father, Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, April 15, 2017.  REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
Military vehicles carry missiles with characters reading 'Pukkuksong' during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father, Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, April 15, 2017. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
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China Orders North Korean Businesses Closed by January

Military vehicles carry missiles with characters reading 'Pukkuksong' during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father, Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, April 15, 2017.  REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
Military vehicles carry missiles with characters reading 'Pukkuksong' during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father, Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, April 15, 2017. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

China on Thursday ordered North Korean-owned businesses to shut down by January, cutting foreign revenue for the isolated North under UN sanctions imposed over its nuclear and missile programs.

North Korean businesses and ventures with Chinese partners must close within 120 days of the Sept. 11 approval of the latest sanctions, according to the Ministry of Commerce. That would be early January.

China is North Korea's main trading partner, making Beijing's cooperation essential to the success of sanctions imposed in an effort to top the North's pursuit of weapons technology. China has long been North Korea's diplomatic protector but has gone along with the latest penalties out of growing frustration with leader Kim Jong Un's government.

The latest round of sanctions approved by the UN Security Council ban member countries from operating joint ventures with North Korea.

The sanctions also ban sales of natural gas to North Korea and purchases of the North's textile exports, another key revenue source. They order other nations to limit fuel supplies to the North.

North Korean companies operate restaurants, trading outfits and other ventures in China, helping to provide the North with foreign currency.

China, which provides the bulk of North Korea's energy supplies, announced Saturday it would cut off gas and limit shipments of refined petroleum products, effective Jan. 1. It made no mention of crude, which makes up the bulk of Chinese energy supplies to North Korea and is not covered by the UN sanctions.

China also has banned imports of North Korean coal, iron and lead ore, and seafood since early September.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Commerce defended its recent imports of North Korean coal as permitted by UN sanctions.

A ministry spokesman, Gao Feng, said imports that were reported in August trade data were allowed by a "grace period" for goods that arrived before the UN ban took effect.

The imports are "in line with the (UN) resolution," Gao said.



North Korea Condemns US Strikes against Yemen

A ship fires missiles at an undisclosed location, after US President Donald Trump launched military strikes against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video released on March 15, 2025. US Central Command/Handout via REUTERS
A ship fires missiles at an undisclosed location, after US President Donald Trump launched military strikes against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video released on March 15, 2025. US Central Command/Handout via REUTERS
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North Korea Condemns US Strikes against Yemen

A ship fires missiles at an undisclosed location, after US President Donald Trump launched military strikes against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video released on March 15, 2025. US Central Command/Handout via REUTERS
A ship fires missiles at an undisclosed location, after US President Donald Trump launched military strikes against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video released on March 15, 2025. US Central Command/Handout via REUTERS

North Korea condemned recent US strikes on Yemen as an act violating international law and a country's sovereignty and said such a move could never be justified in any way, the North's state media quoted on Tuesday its ambassador to Yemen as saying.

The large-scale US strikes were launched by President Donald Trump last week targeting Iran-aligned Houthis over the group's attacks on Red Sea shipping. The Houthi-run health ministry said the strikes killed at least 53 people including women and children.

The North Korean ambassador, Ma Dong Hui, who the KCNA state news agency said was also Pyongyang's envoy to Egypt, said Washington "indiscriminately" targeted civilians and property by mobilizing air and navy forces including an aircraft carrier.

"The military attack by the United States is a violent violation of the UN Charter and international law, and is a blatant infringement on the territorial sovereignty of another country that cannot be justified by any means," Ma said.

"I express grave concern about the illegal and reckless military actions by the United States, which is obsessed with realizing geopolitical ambitions ... and I strongly condemn and reject them."

The US Defense Department said the strikes hit more than 30 sites and involved fighter jets launched from a carrier in the Red Sea.