The United Nations Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution imposing tough new sanctions on North Korea in response to its recent nuclear test and launch using ballistic missile technology. The resolution puts in place the strongest sanctions imposed by the Security Council in more than two decades.
“I welcome this resolution as a firm, united, and appropriate response by the international community to the DPRK's recent provocations that flagrantly violated multiple Security Council resolutions,” said President Barack Obama in a statement.
These sanctions build significantly on the Council’s previous actions aimed at North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic programs and add far greater costs to the North Korean leadership and military by imposing new, stronger sanctions in other areas.
The resolution subjects all cargo going in to and out of North Korea to mandatory inspection, and bans transfers of aviation fuel to the DPRK. It also limits, and in some instances bans North Korea’s exports of specific natural resources, making it tougher for the regime to obtain the financial resources it needs to keep funding its illicit weapons programs. It obligates countries to shut down DPRK financial institutions in their territory and to expel North Korean representatives engaged in of abusing diplomatic privilege to conduct illicit activities.
The resolution also bans North Koreans from receiving training abroad that could further the DPRK’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power stressed that the resolution is not intended to punish the North Korean people who have already suffered greatly under one of the most brutal regimes in the world:
“The DPRK’s abysmal human rights record is another reason we have taken steps to ensure the sanctions contained in this resolution specifically target the government, which carries out these grave abuses with impunity.”
For more than a decade, North Korea has continued to move toward its declared goal of developing intercontinental ballistic missiles armed with nuclear weapons.
“The international community, speaking with one voice, has sent Pyongyang a simple message,” said President Obama. “North Korea must abandon these dangerous programs and choose a better path for its people.”
