Voice of America:
The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote Tuesday on a resolution that would impose new sanctions on North Korea in response to its latest nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
The resolution, drafted by the United States and introduced last Thursday, calls for a total arms embargo on Pyongyang, a mandatory inspection of all cargo in and out of North Korea, whether by land, sea or air, and halts imports of all products that could be used for military purposes. The vote was delayed for a few days when Russia declared it needed to study the document.
The U.S. mission to the world body says it made the request for the vote on Monday to Angola, which currently holds the presidency of the 15-member Security Council.
Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said the resolution “would break new ground and represent the strongest set of sanctions imposed by the Security Council in more than two decades.” The U.N. already has imposed a number of sanctions on North Korea in response to past nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
The U.S. submitted the resolution after several weeks of negotiations with China, North Korea’s closest ally and largest trading partner. Beijing was angered by the North’s January nuclear test and its February 7 ballistic missile test, but it has been reluctant to support harsh international sanctions on Pyongyang for fear of destabilizing the country and triggering a surge of refugees across their border.
