U.N. hits N. Korea with toughest sanctions in 20 years
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council has unanimously approved the toughest sanctions on North Korea in two decades, reflecting growing anger at Pyongyang's latest nuclear test and rocket launch in defiance of a ban on all nuclear-related activity.
The United States and North Korea's traditional ally China spent seven weeks negotiating the new sanctions. They include mandatory inspections of cargo leaving and entering North Korea by sea or air, a ban on all sales or transfers of small arms and light weapons to Pyongyang, and expulsion of diplomats from the North who engage in "illicit activities."
The U.S., its Western allies and Japan pressed for new sanctions that went beyond the North's nuclear and missile programs but China, Pyongyang's neighbor, was reluctant to impose measures that could threaten the stability of North Korea and cause its economy to collapse.
CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk reports nuclear testing by North Korea, including a nuclear test in January and a satellite rocket launch in February, has pushed China to its limit - and the result is that Chinese banks froze North Korean accounts and has agreed to support a U.N. resolution that would impose inspections on all exported cargo and will halt imports of all products that could be used for military purposes.
Being a rogue regime for so many years has caused the government of Kim Jong-un to rely on barter and undercover trade across its almost 900-mile border with China, and the test of the resolution's success will be if North Korea feels the pinch of the new sanctions.
The North Korea resolution has unprecedented new provisions, designed to close gaps on the U.N. sanctions already in place and to make many provisions mandatory where they were not before and it subjects North Korean officials and businesses to travel and assets freezes.
The difference between this resolution and previous ones is that China is on board, which sends a message to Pyongyang that enough is enough.
Still, as CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan reports, China prevented North Korea's banking sector from being cut off, thus allowing Kim Jong Un's regime to keep its financial lifeline.
Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement Wednesday that North Korea poses a threat "to not only security on the peninsula, but also to the world."
"With this resolution we renew our collective resolve to take concerted action to counter this threat posed by North Korea's proscribed programs and proliferation activities worldwide," Kerry said.
In a statement, President Obama said North Korea's leadership must "choose a better path for its people."