South Korea has confirmed on Saturday that they were given a special exemption from the UN Security Council on North Korea sanctions. This exemption is to allow them to conduct a joint survey of inter-Korean railways.
In recent diplomacy, North and South Korea agreed to reconnect a single road and also a single rail line between the two nations. The process of reconnecting the road began this weekend, but the rail link requires surveys to be carried out on both sides of the border.
That was potentially an obstacle, because UN sanctions prevent doing almost anything in North Korea. In this case, South Korea needed to bring in equipment, and fuel, to conduct the surveys, which normally wouldn’t be allowed.
Interesting, there is no sign the US attempted to block this exemption. That is unusual, as the US has generally opposed anything that might be seen as sanctions relief coming from diplomatic progress on the Korean Peninsula.
The UN sanctions specifically include provisions for relief in response to progress in limiting DPRK nuclear activities. What’s odd is that there is no mention of this particular exemption at the UN news center here. Supposedly the relief came on November 24, and there must have been a vote in the UNSC.