Security Council Tightens Economic Vise on North Korea, Blocking Fuel, Ships and Workers
- 6 years ago
Security Council Tightens Economic Vise on North Korea, Blocking Fuel, Ships and Workers
Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Matthew Rycroft, the British ambassador, said the unity
of Council members on North Korea showed they were “seeing the bigger interests we all have.”
Asked if the new measures would make life even harder for ordinary North Koreans, Mr. Rycroft blamed their government, saying it “uses every cent, every penny
that it can on its nuclear program and its intercontinental ballistic missile program and nothing at all on the welfare of the poor people of North Korea.”
Under Mr. Kim, a grandson of the country’s founder, Kim Il-sung, the impoverished country of 25 million has exalted nuclear weapons
and threatened to use them against the United States, its No.
Nikki R. Haley, the American ambassador, thanked the other Council members — especially China — for coming together on the resolution
and said further North Korean defiance would “invite further punishment and isolation.”
Ms. Haley called North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile test last month “another attempt by
the Kim regime to masquerade as a great power while their people starve and their soldiers defect.”
China’s deputy ambassador, Wu Haitao, said the latest measures reflected “the unanimous position of the international community”
and he urged North Korea to “refrain from conducting any further nuclear and missile tests.”
But he also emphasized China’s longstanding position
that all antagonists in the dispute needed to de-escalate and find ways to resume a dialogue, asserting that there was “no military option for settling the nuclear issue” on the Korean Peninsula.
Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Matthew Rycroft, the British ambassador, said the unity
of Council members on North Korea showed they were “seeing the bigger interests we all have.”
Asked if the new measures would make life even harder for ordinary North Koreans, Mr. Rycroft blamed their government, saying it “uses every cent, every penny
that it can on its nuclear program and its intercontinental ballistic missile program and nothing at all on the welfare of the poor people of North Korea.”
Under Mr. Kim, a grandson of the country’s founder, Kim Il-sung, the impoverished country of 25 million has exalted nuclear weapons
and threatened to use them against the United States, its No.
Nikki R. Haley, the American ambassador, thanked the other Council members — especially China — for coming together on the resolution
and said further North Korean defiance would “invite further punishment and isolation.”
Ms. Haley called North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile test last month “another attempt by
the Kim regime to masquerade as a great power while their people starve and their soldiers defect.”
China’s deputy ambassador, Wu Haitao, said the latest measures reflected “the unanimous position of the international community”
and he urged North Korea to “refrain from conducting any further nuclear and missile tests.”
But he also emphasized China’s longstanding position
that all antagonists in the dispute needed to de-escalate and find ways to resume a dialogue, asserting that there was “no military option for settling the nuclear issue” on the Korean Peninsula.