26 February 2016•Update: 27 February 2016
NEW YORK
The U.S. has tabled a draft Security Council resolution that would impose unprecedented sanctions against North Korea as punishment for its recent nuclear tests, the U.S. envoy to the UN said Thursday.
Samantha Power told reporters that the measure would "represent the strongest set of sanctions imposed by the Security Council in more than two decades".
If adopted, the resolution would for the first time subject all cargo in and out of North Korea to mandatory inspection, Power said. In another unprecedented move, the resolution would prohibit all small arms and other conventional weapons from being sold to the pariah state.
Among other provisions in the draft are blacklisting of more North Korean individuals and entities, sectoral sanctions, and bans on the transfer to the country of aviation and rocket fuel.
"These sanctions – if adopted – would send an unambiguous and unyielding message to the [North Korean] regime: the world will not accept your proliferation; there will be consequences for your actions, and we will work relentlessly and collectively to stop your nuclear program," Power said.
It was not immediately clear when the draft resolution would be put to a vote in the Council.
The U.S. proposal follows weeks of discussions with China, which is Pyongyang's main ally and largest trading partner. North Korea rattled the U.S. and its regional allies with a nuclear test that it says was the successful test of a hydrogen bomb in early January, and the Feb. 7 launch of a satellite into space in defiance of international sanctions.
