North Korea

Mr. Clifton-Brown
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the likely effect of further sanctions against North Korea on levels of poverty.

Mr. McCartney
The sanctions imposed by UN Security Council resolution 1718 (2006) which was adopted unanimously on 14 October, are aimed at bringing the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) into compliance with the demands set out clearly in that resolution. They are targeted at specific areas such as the DPRK’s nuclear and ballistic-missile programmes and not at ordinary citizens. We do not expect them to have any impact upon the level of poverty among the general population.