Launches follow unanimous security council resolution imposing toughest restrictions on trade in decades against regime over nuclear and missile tests 
 
 North Korea has fired a volley of short-range missiles into the sea off its east coast after the UN security council unanimously approved the toughest sanctions against the regime in two decades over its nuclear and rocket tests. 
 
 South Korean defence spokesman Moon Sang-gyun said the launches came from the eastern coastal town of Wonsan. Another South Korean official from the joint chiefs of staff said the six projectiles flew about 100-150km (60-90 miles) before landing in the sea. 
 
 The US State Department said it had seen reports of the launches and was monitoring the situation. 
 
 
 
 North Korea has previously carried out live firing near or across its borders when facing international condemnation. 
 
 
 
 Thursday’s launch was seen as a low-level response to the UN sanctions, with Pyongyang unlikely to launch any major provocation until a landmark ruling Workers’ party convention in May, according to Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. 
 
 
 
 The US and North Korea’s increasingly uneasy ally China spent seven weeks negotiating the new sanctions passed by the security council on Wednesday. They include mandatory inspections of cargo leaving and entering North Korea by sea or air, a ban on all sales or transfers of small arms and light weapons to Pyongyang, and expulsion of diplomats from the North who engage in “illicit activities”. 
 
 
 
 The US, its western allies and Japan pressed for new sanctions that went beyond the North’s nuclear and missile programs but China, Pyongyang’s neighbor, was reluctant to impose measures that could threaten the stability of North Korea and cause its economy to collapse. Nonetheless, Beijing did agree to several economic measures. 
 
 The resolution bans the export of coal, iron and iron ore being used to fund North Korea’s nuclear or ballistic missile programs and it prohibits all exports of gold, titanium ore, vanadium ore and rare earth minerals. It also bans aviation fuel exports to the country, including “kerosene-type rocket fuel”. 
 
 “The international community, speaking with one voice, has sent Pyongyang a simple message: North Korea must abandon these dangerous programs and choose a better path for its people,” Barack Obama said in a statement. 
 
 US ambassador Samantha Power told the council after the vote that “part of the perverse reality that has no equal in this world” is that North Korea prioritizes its nuclear and ballistic missile programs over the basic needs of its own people. 
 
 “Virtually all of the DPRK’s [North Korea] resources are channeled into its reckless and relentless pursuit of weapons of mass destruction,” she said. 
 
 The resolution stresses that the new measures are not intended to have “adverse humanitarian consequences” for civilians, the majority who face economic hardships and food shortages. 
 
 In the financial and banking sector, countries are required to freeze the assets of companies and other entities linked to Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs. Under a previous resolution, they were encouraged to do so. 
 
 The resolution also prohibits all countries from opening new branches, subsidiaries and representative offices of North Korean banks, and bans financial institutions from establishing new joint ventures or establishing or maintaining correspondent relationships with these banks. It also orders countries to close all North Korean banks and terminate all banking relationships within 90 days. 
 
 Under the four rounds of UN sanctions imposed since the country’s first nuclear test in 2006, North Korea is banned from importing or exporting nuclear or missile items and technology as well as luxury goods. The new resolution expands the list of banned items, adding luxury items such as expensive watches, snowmobiles, recreational water vehicles and lead crystal. 
 
 It also adds 16 individuals, 12 “entities” including the National Aerospace Development Agency which was responsible for February’s rocket launch, and 31 ships owned by the North Korean shipping firm Ocean Maritime Management Company to the sanctions blacklist. That requires the freezing of assets and, in the case of individuals, a travel ban as well. 
 
 The resolution bans Pyongyang from chartering vessels or aircraft, and call on countries to “de-register” any vessel owned, operated or crewed by the North. 
 
 As with previous resolutions, the test will be whether UN member states enforce the sanctions. A UN panel of experts monitoring the sanctions has repeatedly pointed out that enforcement in a significant number of cases has been weak. 
 
 North Korea has ignored many demands, and tried to circumvent others. 
 
 It started off the new year with what it claims was its first hydrogen bomb test on 6 January and followed up with the launch of a satellite on a rocket on 7 February. It was condemned by much of the world as a test of banned missile technology. 
 
 The resolution calls for a resumption of six-party talks leading to the goal of “the verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner”. North Korea withdrew from the talks in 2008. 
 
 The North’s launches in to the Sea of Japan also came shortly after Seoul approved its first legislation on human rights in North Korea. 
 
 The South Korean bill passed ahead of the UN security council vote on sanctions. 
 
 A total of 212 South Korean lawmakers voted for the bill and 24 others abstained in the floor vote. It becomes law when it is endorsed by the cabinet council, considered a formality. 
 
 North Korea’s state media has warned that enactment of the law would result in “miserable ruin.” 
 
 With Reuters and the Associated Press ||||| United Nations (CNN) The United Nations Security Council on Saturday passed a resolution imposing new sanctions on North Korea for its continued intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) testing and violations of UN resolutions. 
 
 With 15 votes in favor, Resolution 2371 was passed unanimously. 
 
 The resolution targets North Korea's primary exports, including coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. The sanctions also target other revenue streams, such as banks and joint ventures with foreign companies. 
 
 The sanctions will slash North Korea's annual export revenue of $3 billion by more than a third, according to a statement from the office of Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations. 
 
 The resolution represents "the strongest sanctions ever imposed in response to a ballistic missile test," the statement said. 
 
 North Korea's state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun carried an article Sunday warning that the United States' only option will be self-destruction unless it gives up its "hostile policy" against Pyongyang. 
 
 "The US mainland will sink into an unimaginable sea of fire on the day when it dares to touch our country by stupidly causing mischief and brandishing its nuclear and sanctions clubs," the commentary -- under the byline Ri Hyo Jin -- warned. 
 
 'Up to North Korea' 
 
 President Trump, vacationing in New Jersey, tweeted his approval of the Security Council's resolution: "The United Nations Security Council just voted 15-0 to sanction North Korea. China and Russia voted with us. Very big financial impact!" 
 
 Trump has been critical of UN performance in the past but was glad to see China and Russia join with the United States to condemn and crack down on the moneymaking ventures that fuel North Korea's outlawed missile expansion program. 
 
 As for what's next, Haley said, it's "completely up to North Korea." 
 
 Two recent ICBM launches by North Korea prompted a call for action by many UN members, and Haley said the resolution includes "one of the strongest sanctions that's have been passed in a generation." 
 
 The Security Council measured the impact in a big round number: $1 billion in key exports from North Korea to be banned under new international law. From seafood to coal, the resolution demands a shutoff of some of the ways that the reclusive regime makes valuable hard currency to fuel its rising ballistic missile and nuclear industry. 
 
 UNSC just increased the penalty of NKorea ballistic missile activity to a whole new level. Learn more about res 2371:https://t.co/nnZm71O6cw pic.twitter.com/p0hldFpdDt — US Mission to the UN (@USUN) August 5, 2017 
 
 France's UN ambassador, Francois Delattre, said North Korea poses a "4G" threat to the world -- 4G meaning "global, grave, given and growing." 
 
 British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said North Korea, by its ICBM launches, is showing contempt and disregard for the Security Council. "We must meet this belligerence with unequivocal condemnation and with clear, unequivocal consequences," he said. 
 
 The resolution also bans countries from hiring additional North Korean workers, a move designed to shut off another source of hard currency for the Pyongyang regime. A Security Council diplomat said the workers are kept in deplorable conditions in many countries. Haley termed it "modern slavery." 
 
 The resolution also placed nine people and four business entities -- including a major North Korean bank -- on a UN blacklist, slapping all with asset freezes or travel bans. 
 
 Adding tougher sanctions was not possible, with China opposing more severe restrictions that might have been urged by Washington. North Korea is still allowed to receive oil. 
 
 Differences between China and US 
 
 China and a few other countries would like to see dialogue between North Korea and the United States. 
 
 "We are happy to talk with them, but they have to stop this reckless action in order for us to do that," Haley said. 
 
 The resolution, like many before, was worked out over several weeks of negotiations between the United States and China. Ambassador Haley thanked China at the Security Council table for its cooperation. 
 
 However large differences remain between the US and China, North Korea's main ally. 
 
 Chinese Ambassador Liu Jieyi did condemn the ICBM launches but warned against the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea by the United States. Jieyi said the missile deployment will not bring a solution to the nuclear and missile testing by North Korea. 
 
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 Haley said the US "is taking and will continue to take prudent defensive measures to protect ourselves and our allies" from the threat posed by North Korea. 
 
 Jieyi of China countered that "China strongly urges parties concerned to halt the process of this deployment and dismantle relevant equipment." 
 
 Russia called the THAAD system an irritant that threatens the regions security. 
 
 US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently said the United States does not want regime change in North Korea. Russia's new UN ambassador, Vasily Alekseevich Nebenzya, said Russia hopes Tillerson is sincere. 
 
 The US secretary of state is currently meeting with Asian regional ministers attending the Association of Southeastern Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum in the Philippines, with North Korea a leading topic. 
 
 Tillerson will hold a trilateral meeting Monday in Manila with his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung-wha and Japanese counterpart Taro Kono to discuss North Korea, according to South Korea's foreign ministry 
 
 "The three foreign ministers will share their assessments of situations caused by the series of provocations by North Korea and discuss necessary future countermeasures, " the ministry said in a statement. 
 
 China on its role 
 
 Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters covering the forum Sunday that while sanctions against North Korea are necessary, "sanctions are by no means the ultimate goal. 
 
 "The goal is to bring the Korean peninsula nuclear issue back to the negotiation table and to seek a final solution through negotiation, until the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the long-term peace and stability of the Korean peninsula become reality." 
 
 Wang said talking about the issue at the ASEAN forum would increase understanding. 
 
 "What's important is that the DPRK foreign minister has come (to this event) too, he can listen to views from all parties, he also has the right to express his own views, this kind of mutual communications can only be beneficial, it will bring no harm," Wang said. 
 
 He said China was the nation that had been executing the UN resolutions: 
 
 "Who is executing each resolution regarding North Korea by the UNSC? It is in fact China who is executing them. Who is taking on the relevant costs? It is China who is taking on those costs. China fully, comprehensively and strictly executed each and every resolution by the UNSC, and fulfilled the responsibility expected from a responsible country. This is for all to see." 
 
 North Korea 'determined to remain nuclear' 
 
 Experts on North Korea debated the impact of the sanctions. 
 
 Seung-Kyun Ko, a professor at Hawaii Pacific University and a former research commissioner in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told CNN last week that the Kim regime will not respond to punitive measures. 
 
 "If there are no negotiations, the current tensions will continue. North Korea will endeavor to improve its nuclear and missile capability," Ko said. 
 
 "North Korea is an absolute dictatorial regime ... It has sacrificed so much and so many. It is willing to sacrifice more," Ko said. 
 
 John Delury of Yonsei University said the US and Security Council measures appeared to be aimed at North Korea's economy as a whole and it was unlikely the UN resolution would force Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program. 
 
 "When the economy overall hurts they don't cut the military first, they cut it last. They are very used to suffering economically and the regime is very good at it," Delury said. 
 
 Andrei Lankov, a North Korea expert from Kookmin University in Seoul, had a similar take when talking about sanctions the US imposed unilaterally last week. 
 
 "If we are talking about denuclearization, let's be frank -- nothing is going to work. (The) North Korean government is determined to remain nuclear, and it will remain nuclear. Period. If it means massive economic disaster, they will not care," he told CNN. 
 
 Damage to regime? 
 
 But Cheong Seong-jang, from the South Korea-based Sejong Institute, told CNN the UN resolution could be effective against Kim's regime. 
 
 North Korea's mineral and marine exports were known to be controlled by the Worker's Party of Korea and military authorities "hence this is expected to cause significant damage to the foreign currency income for North Korean elites and could cause big damage to Kim Jong Un's leadership," he said. 
 
 Cheong praised Beijing for signing up to the resolution, which he said could cause economic damage to China's northeastern regions where North Korea's marine and mineral exports were important. 
 
 "However, this resolution does not include measures to halt providing crude oil to North Korea, hence, there are questions on whether this measure could stop North Korea from conducting additional ICBM or nuclear tests," he said. 
 
 "If North Korea does not announce a halt in further nuclear and ICBM tests and does not come out to the negotiation table in the next month, (China) should halt any tourism and trade exchanges, stop providing crude oil, repatriate all North Korean workers to the North and stop all its import activities from the North. Kim Jong Un, for survival of its system, will be forced to send a special envoy to China to make a deal."
– China appeared to give a boost to US efforts to curtail North Korea's nuclear program on Sunday, one day after the United Nations voted to impose new sanctions on the country. After meeting North Korea's top diplomat, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged North Korea to make the "smart decision" and stop testing nuclear weapons and launching missiles, the Washington Post reports. “Do not violate the UN's decision or provoke international society’s goodwill by conducting missile launching or nuclear tests,” Wang said. China's warning came a little more than a week after North Korea tested a ballistic missile that experts say could hit major cities in the United States. On Saturday, the UN Security Council unanimously approved new sanctions on North Korea, banning the country's largest exports, coal, iron and iron ore, lead and lead ore, and seafood, the Los Angeles Times reports. The resolution also freezes the assets of a North Korean art studio that makes Communist-style statues and monuments for dictatorships around the world. All told the sanctions would cut North Korean annual exports by a third, from $3 billion to $2 billion. In response to the UN vote, North Korea's state-run newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, condemned the United States on Sunday, CNN reports. "The US mainland will sink into an unimaginable sea of fire on the day when it dares to touch our country by stupidly causing mischief and brandishing its nuclear and sanctions clubs," the article warned.