China Imposes Trade Sanctions on N.Korea

China on Tuesday announced a list of restricted North Korean imports. The measures follow a fresh sanctions package adopted by the UN Security Council on March 3 to punish the North for its latest nuclear test and rocket launch.

The restricted imports include North Korean coal, iron ore, gold, titanium, vanadium and rare-earth metals.

But China said it will continue to import North Korean coal, iron and iron ore as long as the proceeds are used to support "livelihood purposes" and are not used to fund the nuclear and missile programs.

China also allows coal from third countries to be shipped from North Korea's Rajin port.

In turn China will no longer sell aviation fuel like naphtha, kerosene and rocket fuel to North Korea, though it will permit sales of aviation fuel to North Korea to refuel commercial aircraft returning to the North or in individual cases authorized by the UN Security Council for humanitarian purposes.

The banned mineral imports are the crux of China's sanctions because coal, iron ore and the others account for almost half of the North's exports to China.

According to the Korea International Trade Association, they accounted for 44.9 percent of North Korea's total shipments to China in 2014.

A whopping 97 percent of mineral resources were sold to China.

Beijing has pledged to fully implement the UN sanctions.