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.
The vote was only passed unanimously after Pyongyang allies Russia and China agreed to the reduced measures.
The sanctions, which were passed at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, were met with anger by North Korea.
A
statement on state news agency KNCA warned that if the US did
eventually push through harsher sanctions, North Korea would "absolutely
make sure that the US pays due price".
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 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.
- Measures to limit North Koreans from working overseas, which the US estimates would 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. A total ban on oversees workers was also
reduced.
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."
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.
China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday
(link in Chinese) that North Korea had "ignored international
opposition and once again conducted a nuclear test, severely violating
UN Security Council resolutions."
It also repeated its call for a
"peaceful resolution" instead of a military response, adding: "China
will never allow the peninsula to descend into war and chaos."
The
BBC's China editor Carrie Gracie says Beijing is treading a fine line
and wants sanctions tough enough to signal its displeasure to Pyongyang
and avoid American accusations of complicity, but not so tough as to
threaten North Korea's survival.
Both Russia and China reiterated their proposal that the US and
South Korea freeze all military drills - which anger North Korea - and
asked for a halt in the deployment of the controversial anti-missile
system Thaad, in exchange for Pyongyang's cessation of its weapons
programmes.
Beijing believes Thaad, which employs a powerful radar, is a security threat to China and neighbouring countries.
Ms Haley last week dismissed this proposal as "insulting".
BBC
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