South Korea and the United States have launched a consultative body to more effectively block key resources and sources of funds for North Korea’s nuclear and missile development. 

According to Seoul’s foreign ministry, the two sides held the inaugural Enhanced Disruption Task Force meeting on Tuesday in Washington D.C., attended by about 30 officials from the two nations’ ministries and agencies in charge of diplomacy, intelligence, sanctions and maritime interdiction operations. 

The ministry said that the first meeting focused on the North’s imports of refined oil in violation of the UN sanctions and ways to block the imports of oil, which is an essential component of the North’s nuclear and missile development and its military readiness. 

Under the UN Security Council Resolution 2397, the international community caps North Korea’s crude oil imports at four million barrels a year and refined oil imports at 500-thousand barrels per year. However, the North appears not to be complying with the resolution amid its strengthening of cooperation with Russia.

Last week, a UN experts’ panel said in its annual report that North Korea is estimated to have imported more than one-point-five million barrels of refined oil between January and September last year.

Seoul and Washington pointed out that a significant portion of the refined oil being smuggled into North Korea is being achieved through illegal cooperation with companies and individuals in the region. The allies agreed to consider independent sanctions against those individuals and entities involved in the illegal smuggling.