TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The United Nations Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday that could slash by a third the Asian state's $3 billion annual export revenue over Pyongyang's two July intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
"Today the Security Council has come together to put the North Korean dictator on notice," The US Ambassador to the UN told the council after the vote on Saturday.
China, North Korea's only international ally and a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, voted in favour of the resolution this time. It has often protected Pyongyang from harmful resolutions in the past.
The export of coal, ore and other raw materials to China is one of North Korea's few sources of cash. Estimates say that North Korea exports about $3bn worth of goods each year - and the sanctions could eliminate $1bn of that trade.
Pyongyang tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July, claiming it now had the ability to hit the US. However, experts doubt the capability of the missiles to hit their targets. The tests were condemned by South Korea, Japan and the US, and prompted the drafting of the new UN sanctions.
China and Russia slammed U.S. deployment of the THAAD anti-missile defense system in South Korea. China's U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi called for a halt to the deployment and for any equipment in place to be dismantled.
BBC | REUTERS | LARISSA
