U.N.S.C. adopts new North Korea sanctions

The United Nations Security Council on Saturday passed a resolution imposing new sanctions on North Korea seeking ban on exports of coal and other commodities, CNN reports.

The new penalties will be adopted by the Security Council in response to two North Korean intercontinental ballistic-missile (ICBM) launches last month and violations of UN resolutions.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, speaking at the Security Council meeting, said, "Monday, we said that the time for talking was over and that it was time for action. Today you're going to see the action. It's going to hit hard but it's going to make a strong point to North Korea that all this ICBM and this nuclear irresponsibility has to stop."

With 15 votes in favour, the draft resolution was passed unanimously.

The bans on coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood exports could deny North Korea $1 billion in annual revenue, out of total exports of $3 billion.

The sanctions will cap North Korea's lucrative program of farming out labourers to other nations. Employers, which include China and Russia, would be barred from increasing the number of North Korean workers they use.

The new sanctions will prohibit new joint ventures between North Korean entities and foreign corporations and cap foreign investment in existing ventures.

The Washington Post had earlier quoted an U.N. official acknowledging that the United States had sought some elements that were not part of the new proposal.

The goal is to restrict North Korea's access to hard currency and products that it can use to further its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes.