UNeffective.

There's an important vote tomorrow in the UN Security Council on North Korea, and apparently we have unanimity.

From Bloomberg:

The United Nations Security Council will vote tomorrow morning on a draft resolution sanctioning North Korea, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said.

"We do have unanimous agreement,'' Bolton said. North Korea announced Oct. 8 that it had it carried out its first nuclear test, drawing condemnation from around the world.

Of course this unanimity came at a cost:

In a concession to China, the U.S. dropped explicit reference to a part of
the UN Charter that would make sanctions militarily enforceable, changing it to
Article 41 of Chapter 7, which only authorizes diplomatic and economic
sanctions. Agreement on a draft Security Council resolution circulated by the
U.S. on North Korea sanctions had been held up because of opposition from China
and Russia.

But why would China support diplomatic and economic sanctions if they "often justify their refusal to pressure North Korea by citing the risk of an economic collapse that would send millions of refugees northward into China?" And why if "the Chinese government argues... that the Koreans are economic migrants rather than refugees" and subject to deportation?

Because A: they're bluffing.

Or B: they're cheating.

The UN resolution will not work thanks largely in part to China. Sanction North Korea and find Chinese convoys of food, pipelines of fuel, and cables of electricity keeping North Korea alive and America on edge. Or from answer A, China would be honest about enforcing the resolution, creating more tension between them and North Korea, while the free nations save money. But it would be rather odd in bringing Chinese honesty out of their original dishonesty.

The UN is perhaps one of the greatest international political tools of power that China has, why use it to aid their adversary when not necessary? China will succumb to fixing North Korea when they realize it is in their best interest, or when it is forced upon them.