South Korea hails new UN resolution on DPRK

South Korea on Wednesday hailed the adoption of a new UN Security Council resolution on North Korea, calling it the toughest and most effective in UN history.

Seoul's foreign ministry said in a government statement that it was a resolution including tougher-than-ever sanctions against Pyongyang, expressing a perfect welcome and support toward it, Xinhua reported.

Calling the North Korea's nuclear test and rocket launch as "intolerable", the statement said the new UN resolution was an expression of the international community's firm will to change the DPRK's "wrong calculations" by making Pyongyang pay a harsh price for its reckless provocations that came in defiance of previous UN resolutions and the international society.

The UN Security Council unanimously approved the new sanctions against North Korea, which conducted its fourth nuclear test on January 6 and went ahead with a long-range rocket launch on February 7.

South Korea vowed to make all necessary efforts, including cooperation with all UN member states, to make the resolution enforced without any setbacks, saying the country will strengthen international cooperation further to encourage Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear programme "completely, verifiably and irreversibly."

Seoul urged Pyongyang to come to a road to denuclearisation as early as possible by accepting calls from the international society as seen in the fresh resolution, warning that Pyongyang would face more severe consequences if it conducts more extreme provocations.

Seoul said new sanctions against Pyongyang would eliminate loopholes in previous resolutions to focus on cutting off resources to finance North Korea's nuclear programmes.