United Nations Imposes Sanctions on North Korea

The U.N. Security Council votes June 12 to impose additional sanctions on North Korea.

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer
June 12, 2009

Washington – The U.N. Security Council unanimously voted June 12 to impose additional security and economic sanctions and a trade and arms embargo on North Korea for testing a nuclear device May 25 and also for testing a long-range ballistic missile in April.

Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo, an alternate U.S. representative to the United Nations, said the United States was pleased with the action by the Security Council. “This resolution provides a strong and united international response to North Korea’s test of a nuclear device,” she said.

“North Korea’s behavior is unacceptable to the international community, and the international community is determined to respond,” DiCarlo said. “North Korea should return without conditions to a process of peaceful dialogue.”

The resolution, number 1874, was submitted to the Security Council on June 10 by the five permanent members of the Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — and also Japan and South Korea. Significantly, the measure calls on U.N. members to inspect North Korean cargo ships and cargo-laden aircraft to seize and destroy any weapons or materials that are in violation of the U.N.-imposed sanctions.

“We’re very pleased that the Security Council ... passed unanimously a brand-new resolution imposing tough, new, meaningful sanctions on North Korea in response to its nuclear test and its other provocative behaviors, including recent missile activity,” U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said at the daily White House press briefing. “We had good cooperation from all of the permanent members of the Security Council, plus Japan and South Korea, and then, ultimately, all of the members of the council.”

In a 2006 resolution, the Security Council prohibited North Korea from testing nuclear weapons and test-firing long-range ballistic missiles, and urged the North Korean regime to “abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.” That resolution was imposed after North Korea tested its first nuclear weapon. (See “U.N. Security Council to Consider New Sanctions on North Korea.”)

The United States has been engaged in the Six-Party Talks along with China, which hosts the talks, North Korea, South Korea, Japan and Russia to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons development program.

The United Nations issued a prepared statement June 12 that said, “By unanimously adopting resolution 1874, the 15-member body condemned the 25 May nuclear test conducted in violation and flagrant disregard of relevant Council resolutions.” The statement urged North Korea to “not conduct any further nuclear test or any launch using ballistic missile technology.”

The five permanent Security Council members, Japan and South Korea sought the resolution after North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test on May 25 (9 p.m. EDT May 24). Following that nuclear test, North Korea test-fired six short-range, ground-to-air and ground-to-ship missiles.

On May 25, the Security Council unanimously condemned North Korea’s nuclear test, including strong objections from Pyongyang’s traditional allies China and Russia, according to U.S. officials. The resolution builds on and enforces sanctions not yet implemented from previous resolutions against North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

“If North Korea does not heed the unanimous call of the international community and return to negotiations to achieve the irreversible dismantlement of their nuclear and ballistic missile capacity, the United States and our allies and partners in the region will need to take the necessary steps to assure our security in the face of this growing threat,” U.S. Special Representative Stephen Bosworth testified June 11 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“In the interests of all concerned, we very much hope that North Korea will choose the path of diplomacy rather than confrontation.”

RESOLUTION STRENGTHENS SANCTIONS

DiCarlo said the new resolution strengthens sanctions in five critical areas:

• It imposes a total embargo on arms exports from North Korea and expands the ban on arms imports.

• It creates a new framework for nations to cooperate in inspecting cargo ships and airplanes suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction and other banned goods.

• It calls on nations and international financial institutions to disrupt funds that could support North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programs.

• It commits to create targeted sanctions on any additional goods, entities and individuals involved in North Korea’s illicit behavior.

• It strengthens the mechanisms to monitor and tighten the implementation of this new sanctions regime.

“This resolution will give us new tools to impair North Korea’s ability to proliferate and threaten international stability,” DiCarlo said.