U.s. calls for un vote on north Korea on monday
Washington wants an oil embargo on Pyongyang and a ban on its textiles exports .
The United States on Friday told the UN Security Council that it intends to call a meeting on Monday to vote on a draft resolution establishing additional sanctions on North Korea for its missile and nuclear program, the US Mission to the United Nations said in a statement.
The US wants the Security Council to impose an oil embargo on North Korea, ban its exports of textiles and the hiring of North Korean laborers abroad, and to subject leader Kim Jong Un to an asset freeze and travel ban, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear how North Korean ally China and Russia would vote, but a senior US official on Friday night expressed skepticism that either nation would accept anything more stringent than a ban on imports of North Korean textiles.
Chinese officials have privately expressed fears that imposing an oil embargo could risk triggering massive instability in its neighbor.
A Security Council resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by permanent members Britain, the United States, France, Russia or China to pass.
Tension on the Korean peninsula has escalated as the North has stepped up the development of weapons, testing a string of missiles this year, including one flying over Japan, and conducting its sixth nuclear test on Sunday.
South Korea braced for a possible further missile test by North Korea when it marks its founding anniversary on Saturday.
Experts believe the isolated regime is close to its goal of developing a powerful nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States, something President Donald Trump has vowed to prevent. Japanese F- 15 fighter jets on Saturday conducted an air exercise with US B1-B bombers in the skies above the East China Sea, Japan’s Air Self Defense Force (ASDF) said.
The joint drill comes as South Korea braces for a possible further missile test by North Korea as it marked its founding anniversary, just days after its sixth and largest nuclear test rattled global financial markets and further escalated tensions in the region.
The exercise involved two US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers flying from Andersen Air Force Base on the U.S. Pacific island territory of Guam, which were joined by two Japanese F-15 jet fighters.
On 31August, Japanese F-15 fighter jets also conducted an air exercise with US B1-B bombers and F-35 stealth fighters in skies south of the Korean peninsula, two days after North Korea launched a ballistic missile over northern Japan.