Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.</s>UNITED NATIONS, Sept 12 (APP): The United Nations Security Council has unanimously approved a new resolution, banning North Korea’s textile exports and capping its oil imports following Pyongyang’s sixth nuclear test conducted last week.</s>The United Nations Security Council on Monday unanimously approved new sanctions against North Korea in a weakened resolution that won’t ban oil imports or an international asset freeze on the government or dictator Kim Jong Un, which the Trump administration had wanted.

The resolution bans the regime from importing all natural gas liquids and condensates, and caps Pyongyang’s imports of crude oil at the level of the last 12 months. It also limits the import of refined petroleum products to 2 million barrels per year.

The sanctions also ban all textile exports and prohibit all countries from authorizing new work permits for North Korean workers, both of which are sources of hard currency for the regime.

NORTH KOREA THREATENS ‘PAIN AND SUFFERING’ IN RETALIATION FOR NEW U.N. SANCTIONS

“This resolution sends a very clear message to North Korea that the Security Council is united in condemning North Korea’s violations and demanding North Korea give up its prohibited nuclear and ballistic missile programs,” the U.S. mission to the U.N. responded.

Ahead of the vote, North Korea vowed the United States would face “pain and suffering,” and vowed it was “ready and willing” to retaliate if any new sanctions were approved by the U.N.

“The forthcoming measures to be taken by [North Korea] will cause the U.S. the greatest pain and suffering it had ever gone through in its entire history,” North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

An initial draft of the U.N. sanctions called for a ban on all oil and natural gas exports to North Korea, as well as a freeze on all foreign financial assets of the government and Kim Jong Un.

A call for tougher sanctions against North Korea came after the country said detonated a hydrogen bomb last week after a series of missile launches earlier this year.

Fox News’ Ben Evansky and The Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>The United Nations Security Council passed new sanctions against North Korea but refrained from imposing the harshest options the White House proposed following a month of antagonistic military action by the regime of Kim Jong Un.

The unanimous decision to impose the new penalties follows North Korea’s recent nuclear test earlier this month ― its sixth and by far most powerful ― as well as a provocative test launch of a ballistic missile over Japan. The sanctions include capping imports of crude oil into North Korea, banning the sale of natural gas to the country and prohibiting the sale of North Korean textiles, the country’s second-biggest export, according to Reuters.

However, the penalties fall far short of those called for by the administration of President Donald Trump, which had requested a full cutoff of all oil supplies to Pyongyang, most of which are imported from China. The New York Times reports those demands were watered down following talks with Russia and China, permanent members of the Security Council that hold veto power.</s>The United Nations Security Council unanimously stepped up sanctions against North Korea on Monday over the country’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3, imposing a ban on the country’s textile exports and capping imports of crude oil, Reuters reported.

It was the ninth sanctions resolution unanimously adopted by the 15-member council since 2006 over North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs. The United States watered down an initial tougher draft resolution to win the support of Pyongyang ally China and Russia.

Textiles were North Korea’s second-biggest export after coal and other minerals in 2016, totaling $752 million, according to data from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. Nearly 80 percent of the textile exports went to China.

The resolution imposes a ban on condensates and natural gas liquids, a cap of 2 million barrels a year on refined petroleum products, and a cap on crude oil exports to North Korea at current levels. China supplies most of North Korea’s crude.

A U.S. official, familiar with the council negotiations and speaking on condition of anonymity, said North Korea imports some 4.5 million barrels of refined petroleum products annually and 4 million barrels of crude oil.</s>UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council on Monday unanimously approved new sanctions on North Korea but not the toughest-ever measures sought by the Trump administration to ban all oil imports and freeze international assets of the government and its leader, Kim Jong Un.

The resolution, responding to Pyongyang’s sixth and strongest nuclear test explosion on Sept. 3, does ban North Korea from importing all natural gas liquids and condensates. It also bans all textile exports and prohibits any country from authorizing new work permits for North Korean workers — two key sources of hard currency for the northeast Asian nation.

As for energy, it caps Pyongyang’s imports of crude oil at the level of the last 12 months, and it limits the import of refined petroleum products to 2 million barrels a year.

The watered-down resolution does not include sanctions that the U.S. wanted on North Korea’s national airline and the army.

Nonetheless, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told the council after the vote that “these are by far the strongest measures ever imposed on North Korea.” But she stressed that “these steps only work if all nations implement them completely and aggressively.”

Haley noted that the council was meeting on the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack. In a clear message to North Korean threats to attack the U.S., she said: “We will never forget the lesson that those who have evil intentions must be confronted.”

“Today we are saying the world will never accept a nuclear armed North Korea,” she said. “We are done trying to prod the regime to do the right thing” and instead are taking steps to prevent it “from doing the wrong thing.”

Haley said the U.S. doesn’t take pleasure in strengthening sanctions and reiterated that the U.S. does not want war.

“The North Korean regime has not yet passed the point of no return,” she said. “If it agrees to stop its nuclear program it can reclaim its future. If it proves it can live in peace, the world will live in peace with it. … If North Korea continues its dangerous path, we will continue with further pressure.”

The final agreement was reached after negotiations between the U.S. and China, the North’s ally and major trading partner. Haley said the resolution never would have happened without the “strong relationship” between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

But its provisions are a significant climb-down from the very tough sanctions the Trump administration proposed last Tuesday, especially on oil, where a complete ban could have crippled North Korea’s economy.

The cap on the import of petroleum products could have an impact, but North Korea will still be able to import the same amount of crude oil that is has this year.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, China supplies most of North Korea’s crude oil imports, which a U.S. official put at 4 million barrels a year. The agency cited U.N. customs data showing that China reported sending 6,000 barrels a day of oil products to North Korea, which it said is mostly gasoline and diesel fuel vital to the country’s agriculture, transportation and military sectors.

That would mean North Korea imports nearly 2.2 million barrels a year in petroleum products, so the 2 million barrel cap in the resolution would represent a 10 percent cut. But the U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said North Korea now receives about 4.5 million barrels of refined petroleum products, which would mean a more than 50 percent cut.

The textile ban is significant. Textiles are North Korea’s main source of export revenue after coal, iron, seafood and other minerals that have already been severely restricted by previous U.N. resolutions. North Korean textile exports in 2016 totaled $752.5 million, accounting for about one-fourth of its total $3 billion in merchandise exports, according to South Korean government figures.

Haley said the Trump administration believes the new sanctions combined with previous measures would ban over 90 percent of North Korea’s exports reported in 2016.

As for North Koreans working overseas, the U.S. Mission said a cutoff on new work permits will eventually cost North Korea about $500 million a year once current work permits expire. The U.S. estimates about 93,000 North Koreans are currently working abroad, the U.S. official said.

The original U.S. draft would have ordered all countries to impose an asset freeze and travel ban on Kim Jong Un and four other top party and government officials. The resolution adopted Monday adds only one person to the sanctions list — Pak Yong Sik, a member of the Workers’ Party of Korea Central Military Commission, which controls the country’s military and helps direct its military industries.

The original U.S. draft would also have frozen the assets of North Korea’s state-owned airline Air Koryo, the Korean People’s Army and five other powerful military and party entities. The resolution adds only the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the party’s powerful Organization and Guidance Department and its Propaganda and Agitation Department to the sanctions blacklist.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement early Monday saying it was watching the United States’ moves closely and warned that it was “ready and willing” to respond with measures of its own. It said the U.S. would pay a heavy price if the sanctions proposed by Washington are adopted.

Britain’s U.N. ambassador, Matthew Rycroft, told reporters who questioned the watering down of the initial U.S. text that “there is a significant prize in keeping the whole of the Security Council united.”

Rycroft called the resolution “a very significant set of additional sanctions,” declaring that “we are tightening the screw, and we stand prepared to tighten it further.”

French Ambassador Francois Delattre said, “We are facing not a regional but a global threat, not a virtual but an immediate threat, not a serious but an existential threat.”

“Make no mistake about it,” he said, “our firmness today is our best antidote to the risk of war, to the risk of confrontation, and our firmness today is our best tool for a political solution tomorrow.”

China and Russia had called for a resolution focused on a political solution to the escalating crisis over North Koreas nuclear program. They have proposed a freeze-for-freeze that would halt North Korean nuclear and missile tests in exchange for the U.S. and South Korea stopping their joint military exercises — but the Trump administration has rejected that.

China’s U.N. ambassador, Liu Jieyi, said Beijing has been making “unremitting efforts” to denuclearize and maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

Liu again urged the council to adopt the freeze-for-freeze proposal and said talks with North Korea are needed “sooner rather than later.” He expressed hope that the United States will pledge not to seek regime change or North Korea’s collapse.

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia went further, making clear that while Russia supported the resolution, it wasn’t entirely satisfied with the council’s approach.

He said the “unwillingness” of the U.S. to reaffirm pledges not to seek regime change or war in North Korea or to include the idea of having U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres use his good offices to try to resolve the dispute “gives rise to very serious questions in our minds.”

“We’re convinced that diverting the gathering menace from the Korean Peninsula could be done not through further and further sanctions, but by political means,” he said.

The resolution does add new language urging “further work to reduce tensions so as to advance the prospects for a comprehensive settlement.” It retains language reaffirming support for long-stalled six-party talks with that goal involving North Korea, the U.S., Russia, China, Japan and South Korea.</s>The U.N. Security Council on Monday unanimously approved new sanctions on North Korea in a watered-down resolution without an oil import ban or international asset freeze on the government and leader Kim Jong Un that the Trump administration wanted.

The resolution does ban North Korea from importing all natural gas liquids and condensates. But it only caps Pyongyang's imports of crude oil at the level of the last 12 months, and it limits the import of refined petroleum products to 2 million barrels a year.

It also bans all textile exports and prohibits all countries from authorizing new work permits for North Korean workers — two key sources of hard currency.</s>Amelia is a reporter for Verdict, covering global news, economics and business. You can reach her at amelia.heathman@verdict.co.uk

The United Nations Security Council has slapped North Korea with new sanctions after it tested a hydrogen bomb on 3 September.

The test in early September was the sixth one Pyongyang had carried out this year, and the country’s most powerful. It is thought that the bomb is around eight times the yield of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

What will the new North Korea sanctions entail?

The new resolution is the ninth set of sanctions to be imposed on North Korea in 2006 in relation to its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

The new North Korea sanctions impose a ban on textile exports. This is the country’s second-biggest export after coal and other minerals, totalling $752m in 2016.

As well, the resolution also imposes a ban on condensates and natural gas liquids, a cap of 2m barrels a year on refined petroleum products, and a cap on crude oil exports to North Korea at current levels.

This will affect China in particular because it supplies most of North Korea’s crude oil.

However, the latest North Korea sanctions might not have much effect.

According to a report by the Washington Post, said that Russian smugglers have been shipping petroleum and other goods to the Kim-led regime.

US Law enforcement officials familiar with the smuggling operation told the Post:

Will the new North Korea sanctions stop the country from carrying out nuclear tests?

When the previous new set of North Korea sanctions were imposed in August, the country responded by saying they were a “violent violation of our sovereignty” and part of a “heinous plot to isolate and stifle the country”.

Yet the ostracised state insists on going ahead with tests. John Nilsson-Wright, senior lecturer in Japanese Politics and International Relations at the University of Cambridge and senior research fellow for Northeast Asia, Asia Programme at the think tank Chatham House, said North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has strived from nuclear power in order to guarantee the country’s security.

Despite the impact the sanctions have on the country, Kim is unlikely to stop until he feels secure.

“There may come a time, however, when once Kim has acquired the credible, independent deterrent that he wants, he will turn his attention to economic development. At that stage, he may be more amenable to the idea of a relaxation of sanctions in return for some diplomatic improvement from the outside world. “But we’re a long way from having those talks yet,” said Nilsson-Wright.</s>The United Nations security council has unanimously agreed to step up sanctions against North Korea after the country’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test on 3 September, imposing a ban on the country’s textile exports and capping imports of crude oil.

It was the ninth sanctions resolution unanimously adopted by the 15-member council since 2006 over North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs. The United States watered down an initial tougher draft resolution to win the support of Pyongyang ally China and Russia.

Textiles were North Korea’s second-biggest export after coal and other minerals in 2016, totaling $752m, according to data from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. Nearly 80 percent of the textile exports went to China.

The resolution, aimed at curbing the regime’s nuclear ambitions, imposes a ban on condensates and natural gas liquids, a cap of 2m barrels a year on refined petroleum products, and a cap on crude oil exports to North Korea at current levels. China supplies most of North Korea’s crude.

A US official, familiar with the council negotiations and speaking on condition of anonymity, said North Korea imports some 4.5m barrels of refined petroleum products annually and 4m barrels of crude oil.

Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, said: “We are done trying to prod North Korea to do the right thing, we are now acting to stop it doing the wrong thing.”

However, she said the US was not looking for war with North Korea and that Pyongyang had not yet passed the point of no return.”

“If it agrees to stop its nuclear program, it can reclaim its future. If it proves it can live in peace, the world will live in peace with it,” she told the UN security council after the council adopted the new sanctions.

“Today’s resolution would not have happened without the strong relationship that has developed between President Trump and Chinese President Xi,” Haley said.

The US significantly diluted its package of new proposed sanctions against North Korea, dropping an oil embargo and enforceable naval blockade, to avoid a Chinese veto at the UN security council.



The much stronger version proposed by the US last week, included the first asset freeze directed at Kim Jong-un, a complete ban on oil sales to his regime, and a mandate for warships from any member state to inspect ships suspected of carrying contraband to or from North Korea, and to enforce inspect using “all necessary measures”.



The Pyongyang regime threatened retribution against Washington for any new sanctions measure threatening to inflict “the greatest pain and suffering” the US has ever encountered.

A diplomatic source at the security council said that the revisions in the draft had been made with the aim of securing acquiescence from China and Russia, who expressed serious reservations about the original version.

“This is a text designed for adoption,” the source said. “If they were running it to force a veto, they wouldn’t have made the revisions.”

The UK ambassador to the UN, Matthew Rycroft, insisted the revised text was still “robust” and argued the revisions were not a climbdown by the US.</s>UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council was scheduled to vote late Monday on a new, watered-down sanctions resolution against North Korea that eliminates initial U.S. demands to ban all oil imports to the country and freeze international assets of the government and its leader Kim Jong Un.

The draft resolution, agreed to late Sunday after final negotiations between the U.S. and China, the North’s ally and main trading partner, also eliminates a U.S. proposal to authorize the use of force to board and inspect nine named ships, which it said violated previous U.N. sanctions resolutions.

The resolution to be voted on represents a swift response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test, which it says was a hydrogen bomb, and to its escalating launches of increasingly sophisticated ballistic missiles it says can reach the United States.

But its provisions are a significant climb-down from the toughest-ever sanctions the Trump administration proposed in the initial draft resolution it circulated last Tuesday, especially on oil,where a complete ban could have crippled the country’s economy.

It would ban North Korea from importing all natural gas liquids and condensates. And it would cap Pyongyang’s imports of refined petroleum products at 2 million barrels a year, and crude oil at the level of the last 12 months.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, China supplies most of North Korea’s crude oil imports. It cited U.N. customs data showing that China reported sending 6,000 barrels a day of oil products to North Korea, which the agency said is mostly gasoline and diesel fuel vital to the country’s agriculture, transportation and military sectors.

That would mean North Korea imports nearly 2.2 million barrels a year in petroleum products, so the 2 million cap in the resolution would represent a 10 percent cut.

The final draft would ban also all textile exports and prohibit all countries from authorizing new work permits for North Korean workers — two key sources of hard currency. It would prohibit all new and existing joint ventures and cooperative arrangements with a single exception.

Textiles are North Korea’s main source of export revenue after coal and other minerals which have already been severely restricted by previous U.N. resolutions.

North Korean textile exports in 2016 totaled $752.5 million, accounting for about one-fourth of its total $3 billion in merchandise exports, according to South Korean government figures.

The original U.S. draft would have ordered all countries to impose an asset freeze and travel ban on Kim Jong Un and four other top party and government officials. The new draft would add only one person to the sanctions list — Pak Yong Sik, a member of the Workers’ Party of Korea Central Military Commission, which controls the country’s military and helps direct its military industries.

The original U.S. draft would also have frozen the assets of North Korea’s state-owned airline Air Koryo, the Korean People’s Army, and five other powerful military and party entities. The new draft drops sanctions on the airline and army and would only add the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the party’s powerful Organization and Guidance Department and its Propaganda and Agitation Department to the sanctions blacklist.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement early Monday saying it was watching the United States’ moves closely and warned that it was “ready and willing” to respond with measures of its own. It said the U.S. would pay a heavy price if the sanctions proposed by Washington are adopted.

Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters who questioned the watering down of the initial U.S. text that “there is a significant prize in keeping the whole of the Security Council united and I very much hope that all my council colleagues will vote in favor of the revised draft.” He said he expects China and Russia to support it.

Rycroft called the resolution “very robust” and “a very significant set of additional sanctions on imports into North Korea and exports out of North Korea and other measures as well.”

China and Russia had called for a resolution that focuses on a political solution to the escalating crisis over North Koreas nuclear program. They have proposed a freeze-for-freeze that would halt North Korean nuclear and missile tests in exchange for the U.S. and South Korea stopping their joint military exercises — but the Trump administration has rejected the initiative.

Russia has argued that sanctions aren’t working and President Vladimir Putin expressed concern last week that a total oil cutoff could hurt the North Korean people.

The final draft adds new language urging “further work to reduce tensions so as to advance the prospects for a comprehensive settlement,” and underscoring “the imperative of achieving the goal of complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.”

It retains language reaffirming support for long-stalled six-party talks with that goal between North Korea, the U.S., Russia, China, Japan and South Korea.

The final draft also adds language underscoring the Security Council’s commitment to North Korea’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, to “a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the situation,” and “its concern that developments on the Korean Peninsula could have dangerous, large-scale regional security implications.”

The revised resolution retains language on the council’s “determination to take further significant measures” in the event of a new nuclear test or ballistic missile launch.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The United Nations Security Council approves new sanctions on North Korea, limiting refined petroleum imports and banning textile exports, in response to its recent nuclear test.