The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose financial and weapons sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear test, which the resolution called a "clear threat to international peace and security." | The US-drafted resolution allows nations to stop cargo going to and from North Korea to check for weapons of mass destruction or related supplies. |
| The resolution requires all countries to prevent the sale or transfer of materials related to Pyongyang's unconventional weapons programs. |
| North Korea's UN ambassador said his country "totally" rejected the Security Council's resolution. |
Wang Guangya, China's UN ambassador, told the council Beijing still opposed interdiction and urged nations not to take "provocative steps." The resolution also drops a ban on all arms going to North Korea, but it puts an embargo on all large-sized conventional arms.
In Washington, a US intelligence analysis showed radioactivity in air samples collected near the suspected nuclear test site, a US official said on Friday, five days after Pyongyang announced it conducted the test. "That's right, though this is only a first look. People have been saying all along that the working assumption is it was a nuke," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
US President George Bush had used his weekly radio address to the nation to urge world powers to pass tough sanctions on North Korea and said Pyongyang must face "real consequences" for the nuclear weapons test.
With China fearing a flood of refugees from a sudden collapse of North Korea, which was sorely tested yet survived the demise of the Soviet Union, the death of its founder and a famine that may have killed 10% of its people in the 1990s, some questioned what impact any sanctions would have.
| Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung , the architect of South Korea's engagement policy with the North, blamed US policy in part for the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula, which he said could only end if Washington held direct talks with Pyongyang leaders. |
Kim, the architect of South Korea's engagement policy with the North, blamed US policy in part for the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula, which he said could only end if Washington held direct talks with Pyongyang leaders. "The United States must talk to North Korea," Kim said in an email interview. "We have to talk not only with friends but also with enemies, if necessary."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit China, Japan and South Korea from October 17 to 22. A US official said Rice would also likely travel to Russia during the trip. Those five countries had been engaging North Korea in the "six-party talks" aimed at getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees.
Highlights of the UN resolution:
Calls upon countries to take "co-operative" action through inspection of cargo to and from North Korea to prevent illicit trafficking in nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and related materials.
Decides that North Korea should abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and ballistic missiles programs in a "complete, verifiable and irreversible" manner.
Bans trade with North Korea on battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, large calibre artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles or missile systems.
Ban trade with North Korea in all items, materials, equipment, goods and technology that could contribute to the country's nuclear-related, ballistic missile-related or other weapons of mass destruction-related programs.
Bans luxury goods going to North Korea.
Decides all countries should freeze funds, other financial assets and economic resources that are owned, controlled, directly or indirectly by people engaged in or providing support for North Korea's unconventional weapons.
Allow a travel ban on people and their families supporting or promoting North Korea's policies on dangerous weapons programs, providing names are approved by a Security Council sanctions committee.
Encourages efforts to intensify diplomatic efforts, refrain from any actions that might aggravate tension and to facilitate the early resumption of the six-party talks, between North Korea, South Korea, the United States, Russia, China and Japan, aimed at convincing Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
