2017.04.2603:14:00UTC+00Global Geo-Political Series: China’s Oil Embargo on North Korea

Gasoline prices in North Korea are on the rise as its major trading partner China has taken a tough stance towards Pyongyang to force the regime there to come to the negotiating table. China has issued an oil embargo on North Korea, which imports almost all of its oil from China. The China has also curbed coal imports from North Korea. China’s actions seem to be slowly paralyzing the isolated country.

The actions from China come after the two-day meeting between the US President Donald Trump and the Chinese President Xi Jinping in President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. President Trump has described the meeting as a very successful one and said that he is getting along with the Chinese President very well. Mr. Trump has promised that China would be able to negotiate a much better trade deal if it helps the United States to neutralize North Korean threats by making it scrap its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program.

The tensions surrounding the Korean peninsula rose after the US President Donald Trump sent an armada off the Korean waters intended to tackle threats from North Korea. Japanese destroyers and US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson have conducted joint military drills.

The oil embargo imposed by China has reportedly caused the gas prices in North Korea to spike as much as 83 percent within days, however, China has urged both the United States and North Korea from taking any sudden harsh actions.