The UN has launched new sanctions against North Korea. Approved unanimously by the Security Council, the resolution provides for a ban on textile exports from Pyongyang and a ban on oil and natural gas exports to North Korea, except for a quantity to be used to support the population.
“North Korea has not yet passed the point of no return – said the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley – The US is not seeking war with Pyongyang. The civilized world must do what North Korea is not doing, which is to stop its march towards building a nuclear arsenal. The choice is theirs. If they continue on this path we will continue to increase the pressure, if they decide to change course the world will live at peace with them".
China has supported the UN Security Council in adopting "necessary measures" on North Korea's latest nuclear test on September 3, the most powerful of the six events. This was stated by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, according to the New China agency. Beijing hopes that the new sanctions will be implemented in full, reaffirming the opposition to Thaad anti-missile systems in South Korea. The crisis, according to the Chinese permanent representative to the UN Liu Jieyi, "must be resolved peacefully".
According to Seoul, the new sanctions by the UN Security Council are a "heavy" warning to North Korea, given that other provocations will only increase its diplomatic and economic challenges: the measures, explains a note from the South Korean government, " they represent the renewed commitment of the international community not to tolerate the nuclear and missile development of the North". Resolution 2375, voted in response to the September 3 atomic test, is the ninth with sanctions for the North since 2006, the year of the first nuclear detonation.
