North Korea has been under United Nations sanctions since 2006 because of its four nuclear tests and multiple rocket launches.
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Kim Jong Un has a new enemy in his sights.
– Banning Pyongyang from exporting most of the country’s natural resources used to generate money for the regime’s nuclear and missile programs.
Pyongyang “must put a stop to these provocations and take tangible steps to re-engage constructively with the worldwide community, ” he said, adding “If it is willing to change its approach and take concrete steps towards re-engagement, it will find that the global community will respond positively”.
South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye also made a speech, hours before the test, in which she vowed to “end tyranny” carried out by North Korea.
South Korea’s plans to conduct joint drills involving over 100,000 military personnel in March have inflamed Pyongyang’s leadership, who responded by threatening to target the presidential Blue House in Seoul, as well as U.S. military bases both on South Korean and United States soil.
Seoul’s defense ministry spokesman Moon Sang-Kyun told a regular press briefing that DPRK forces fired short-range projectiles at about 10 a.m. (0100 GMT) from its Wonsan area into the East Sea.
Luxury watches, snowmobiles, recreational watercraft such as Sea-Doos and sports equipment are banned from sale to North Korea, in sanctions targeting Pyongyang’s elites.
It also empowers the inspection of cargo ships going to and from North Korea. Diplomats said implementation and enforcement will be equally important, particularly by Russian Federation and China, two countries that share a border with North Korea and have said they remain wary of the economic impact of the sanctions.
While far from Europe, North Korea is a concern to NATO and to the EU’s Asian trade partners.
The North’s launches also come shortly after Seoul approved its first legislation on human rights in North Korea.
The United States and North Korea’s long-standing ally China spent seven weeks discussing the new sanctions. Today’s resolution should be a new starting point and the paving stone for a political settlement of the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula.
China does not want the USA to gain influence in a neighbouring country should the North Korean economy collapse.
“The South Korean military is monitoring any additional movements from the North”, he added.
It follows Pyongyang’s recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.
The United States followed the U.N. action with its own sanctions on a dozen individuals and five organizations tied to North Korea’s nuclear and weapons proliferation efforts.
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Japan’s United Nations ambassador, Motohide Yoshikawa, said, “That’s their way of reacting to what we have decided”.
