North Korea slapped with UN sanctions after nuclear test

The United Nations has imposed a fresh round of sanctions on North Korea after its sixth and largest nuclear test.

The measures restrict oil imports and ban textile exports – an attempt to starve the North of fuel and income for its weapons programmes.

The US had originally proposed harsher sanctions including a total ban on oil imports.

Pyongyang said it “categorically rejected” what it called an “illegal” resolution.

North Korea’s ambassador to the UN, Han Tae Song, told a conference in Geneva: “The forthcoming measures by DPRK [the Democratic Republic of Korea] will make the US suffer the greatest pain it has ever experienced in its history.”

Monday’s vote was only passed unanimously after Pyongyang allies Russia and China agreed to the reduced measures.

The US call last week for a total ban on oil imports was seen as by some analysts as potentially destabilising for the regime.

The new sanctions agreed by the UN include:

• Limits on imports of crude oil and oil products. China, Pyongyang’s main economic ally, supplies most of North Korea’s crude oil
• A ban on exports of textiles, which is Pyongyang’s second-biggest export worth more than $700m (£530m) a year
• A ban on new visas for North Korean overseas workers, which the US estimates would eventually cut off $500m of tax revenue per year

A proposed asset freeze and a travel ban on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un were dropped.

The US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, told the Security Council after the vote: “We don’t take pleasure in further strengthening sanctions today. We are not looking for war.”

“The North Korean regime has not yet passed the point of no return,” she added. “If North Korea continues its dangerous path, we will continue with further pressure. The choice is theirs.”

But the North Korean envoy also said: “Instead of making [the] right choice with rational analysis… the Washington regime finally opted for political, economic and military confrontation, obsessed with the wild dream of reversing the DPRK’s development of nuclear force – which has already reached the completion phase.”

A South Korean presidential office spokesman said on Tuesday: “North Korea needs to realise that a reckless challenge against international peace will only bring about even stronger sanctions against them.”

Monday’s resolution was the ninth one unanimously adopted by the UN since 2006.

Source: BBC