UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council imposed punishing new sanctions on North Korea on Friday, toughening an arms embargo and authorizing ship searches on the high seas in an attempt to thwart the reclusive nation’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The unanimous support in the 15-nation council for the resolution reflected international disapproval for North Korea’s recent actions.
The country defied the council by conducting a second nuclear test May 25 and heightened global tensions with recent missile launches that raised the specter of a renegade nuclear state.
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, who shepherded the resolution through two weeks of complex and sometimes difficult negotiations, told reporters in Washington that the administration was “very pleased” with the council’s “unprecedented” and “innovative” action.
She cautioned that North Korea could react to the resolution with “further provocation.” North Korea has warned that it would view new sanctions as a declaration of war, but it boycotted the vote Friday.
China and Russia, the North’s closest allies, supported the resolution but stressed that it did not authorize the use of force against North Korea, a key demand by both countries. Diplomats said during the negotiations both countries pushed to ensure that the measures not hurt ordinary people in North Korea who face daily hardships.
The resolution demonstrates the international community’s “firm opposition” to the atomic test, said China’s U.N. ambassador, Zhang Yesui, but it also “sends a positive signal” by showing the council’s determination to resolve the issue “peacefully through dialogue and negotiations.”
Rice said although the U.S. will work to ensure that full implementation is achieved and “the bite is felt . . . we’re not going to get into a tit-for-tat reaction to every North Korean provocative act.”
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, urged all concerned parties “to refrain from taking any measures that can exacerbate tensions in the region and to exert their best efforts to re-engage in dialogue, including through the six-party talks,” said U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas.
Provisions
The U.N. Security Council resolution:
• Calls on all countries to inspect North Korea-bound cargo at airports, seaports or on land if they have “information that provides reasonable grounds to believe” it contains banned arms or weapons, or the material to make them.
• Calls on all 192 U.N. member states to inspect vessels carrying suspect cargo on the high seas if approval is given by the country whose flag the ship sails under. If the country refuses to give approval, it must direct the vessel “to an appropriate and convenient port for the required inspection by the local authorities.” If a country refuses to order a vessel to a port for inspection, it would be in violation of the resolution and the country licensing the vessel would face possible sanctions by the Security Council.
• Demands a halt to any further nuclear tests or missile launches and reiterates the council’s demand that the North abandon all nuclear weapons, return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, allow U.N. nuclear inspections, and rejoin six-party talks.
• Restricts North Korea’s access to international grants, financial assistance and low-interest loans.
• Calls on all countries to prevent financial institutions or individuals in their countries from providing financing or resources that could contribute to North Korea’s “nuclear- related, ballistic missile- related, or other weapons of mass destruction-related programs or activities.”
