UNITED NATIONS (AP):The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously yesterday to impose limited sanctions on North Korea for its recent missile tests and demanded that the reclusive communist nation suspend its ballistic missile programme.
North Korea immediately rejected the resolution and vowed to continue missile launches.
United States Ambassador John Bolton said North Korea set "a world record" for a rejection, in just 45 minutes, but warned that Pyongyang's failure to comply could lead to further council action.
The resolution bans all U.N. member states from selling material or technology for missiles or weapons of mass destruction to North Korea, and it bans all countries from receiving missiles, banned weapons or technology from Pyongyang.
DEMANDS SUSPENSION
It condemns North Korea's multiple missile launches on July 5 and demands that North Korea "suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile programme" and re-establish a moratorium on missile launching. It also strongly urges North Korea to return to six-party talks on its nuclear programme which have been stalled since last September.
North Korea's U.N. Ambassador Pak Gil Yon, who was in the Security Council chamber for the vote, spoke afterward and accused the council of trying to isolate his country, known officially as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK.
He said that the DPKR "totally rejects the resolution," and added that the "Korean People's Army will go on with missile launch exercises as part of its efforts to bolster deterrents for self-defense in the future, too."
WARNED OF VETO
Pak warned that North Korea would "take stronger physical actions of other forms should any other country dare take issue. "The council was divided on one issue: If the resolution should be adopted under Chapter Seven of the U.N. Charter, which allows for the use of military force to make sure the resolution is obeyed.
China had threatened to veto any resolution that mentioned Chapter Seven and in the final compromise proposed by Britain, with support from France and China, it was dropped.
The resolution adopted yesterday by a 15-0 vote states that the Security Council was "acting under its special responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security."
The United States, Britain, France and Japan insist that even without Chapter Seven, the resolution is mandatory.
