US formally requests UN vote on N. Korea sanctions

new york — The US has formally requested a UN Security Council vote on Monday on tough new sanctions against North Korea despite resistance from China and Russia, as Pyongyang’s state media calls for a nuclear arms buildup.

Washington has presented a draft UN resolution calling for an oil embargo on North Korea, an assets freeze on Kim Jong-Un, a ban on textiles and an end to payments of North Korean guest workers.

Diplomatic sources said Russia and China opposed the measures as a whole, except for the ban on textiles, during a meeting on Friday of experts from the 15 Security Council members.

“This evening, the United States informed the UN Security Council that it intends to call a meeting to vote on a draft resolution to establish additional sanctions on North Korea on Monday, September 11,” a statement from the US mission to the UN read.

The statement declined to say what text would be voted on — the original draft Washington first presented Wednesday, an amended text or another version.

In North Korea, which was marking the nation’s founding anniversary on Saturday, local media issued fresh calls for a nuclear arms buildup, in defiance of the mounting international sanctions.

“The defence sector, in step with the party’s Byungjin policy (of developing the economy and nuclear weapons at the same time) must make cutting-edge Juche weapons in greater quantities,” the Rodong Sinmun said in an editorial, referring to the national philosophy of “Juche” or self-reliance.

North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test on September 9 last year, and then carried out a sixth a week ago, saying it was a hydrogen bomb.

In July, it tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that appeared to bring much of the mainland US into range. The mouthpiece of the North’s ruling party called for more “miracle-like events” such as the two ICBM tests to deter the US. — AFP