UN Security Council steps up sanctions on N Korea
Delegation at UN rejects ‘illegal and unlawful’ resolution
The UN Security Council unanimously voted to step up sanctions on North Korea, with its profitable textile exports now banned and fuel supplies capped, prompting a traditionally defiant threat of retaliation against the US.
Monday’s decision, triggered by the North’s sixth and largest nuclear test this month, was the ninth such resolution unanimously adopted by the 15-member Security Council since 2006 over North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear programmes.
Japan and South Korea, after the passage of the US-drafted Security Council resolution, said they were prepared to apply more pressure if North Korea refused to end its aggressive development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
A tougher initial US draft was weakened to win the support of China and Russia, both of which hold veto power in the council.
“We don’t take pleasure in further strengthening sanctions today. We are not looking for war,” US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the council after the vote.
“The North Korean regime has not yet passed the point of no return.
“If it agrees to stop its nuclear programme, it can reclaim its future ... If North Korea continues its dangerous path, we will continue with further pressure,” said Haley, crediting a “strong relationship” between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping for the successful resolution negotiations.
North Korea’s ambassador, Han Tae Song, told the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on Tuesday the United States was “fired up for political, economic, and military confrontation”.
The North regularly threatens to destroy the South and the US, which it accuses of continual preparation for invasion.
“My delegation condemns in the strongest terms, and categorically rejects, the latest illegal and unlawful UN Security Council resolution,” he said.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) was “ready to use a form of ultimate means”, Han said.
“The forthcoming measures by DPRK will make the US suffer the greatest pain it ever experienced in its history.”
UN member states are now required to halt imports of textiles from North Korea, its second largest export after coal and other minerals in 2016 that totalled $752 million and accounted for a quarter of its income from trade, according to South Korean data.
South Korea’s presidential Blue House said the only way for Pyongyang to end diplomatic isolation and free itself of economic pressure was to end its nuclear programme and resume dialogue. REUTERS