New UN sanctions against N Korea

VICTORY: TRUMP RAVES OVER TOUGHER MEASURES

Breakthrough as China, Russia side with America.

New York City

The United Nations Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday that could slash by a third the Asian state’s $3 billion annual export revenue.

This follows Pyongyang’s two July intercontinental ballistic missile tests.

The US-drafted resolution bans North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. It also prohibits countries from increasing the current numbers of North Korean labourers working abroad, bans new joint ventures with North Korea and any new investment in current joint ventures.

“We should not fool ourselves into thinking we have solved the problem. Not even close. The North Korean threat has not left us, it is rapidly growing more dangerous,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the council.

“Further action is required. The United States is taking and will continue to take prudent defensive measures to protect ourselves and our allies,” she said, adding that Washington would continue annual joint military exercises with South Korea.

North Korea has accused the US and South Korea of escalating tensions with military drills.

China and Russia slammed US deployment of the THAAD antimissile defence system in South Korea and China’s UN ambassador, Liu Jieyi, called for a halt to the deployment and for any equipment in place to be dismantled.

US President Donald Trump hailed the UN vote in a Twitter message on Saturday evening.

“The United Nations Security Council just voted 15-0 to sanction North Korea. China and Russia voted with us. Very big financial impact!” Trump wrote.

Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said he hoped recent remarks by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson “were sincere – that the US is not seeking to dismantle the existing situation or to forcibly unite the peninsula or to militarily intervene in the country”.

“We had tough negotiations this week,” Haley said. “I think that the Chinese realised that the US was going to push.” – Reuters