North Korea sanctions
June 11, 2009
The five permanent members of the Security Council plus Japan and South Korea on Wednesday agreed on a package of expanded sanctions against Pyongyang.
The draft resolution "condemns in the strongest terms" North Korea's nuclear test last month and demands that it "not conduct any further nuclear test or any launch using ballistic missile technology."
The draft calls for tougher inspections of North Korean cargo vessels and for a cutting of financial ties with the country. The existing arms embargo is to be stepped up.
"The efforts made for a resolution were rewarded with success," Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said during a visit to Moscow.
"We expect a vote at the Security Council by Friday at the latest," he told a news conference after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The draft is a compromise as both China and Russia had objected to earlier versions which would have required all countries to inspect North Korean ships carrying suspicious cargo. The latest draft now merely "calls upon" states to inspect the vessels.
An attempt to get Pyongyang back to international talks
The document was submitted to the full 15-member Security Council by US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice on behalf of the five permanent members – the United States, China, Russia, France Britain – plus Japan and South Korea.
Rice said North Korea's behaviour was unacceptable and stressed that the objective of the new resolution was to get Pyongyang to enter international talks.
"They must pay a price, they are to return without conditions to a process of negotiations and that the consequences they will face are significant," Rice told reporters.
"This sanctions regime, if passed by the Security Council, will bite in a meaningful way," she said.
North Korea launched a long-range missile in April, triggering a rebuke from the UN Security Council. The regime in Pyongyang then responded by declaring it had staged a successful nuclear weapons test, following one in 2006.
According to Russian and South Korean officials, North Korea is currently preparing yet another test-launch of a long-range missile.
ai/AP/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Sonia Phalnikar