UN approves toughest sanctions on DPRK in two decades

World Today

A visitor at a flower festival walks past a model of the DPRK’s newest satellite Kwangmyongsong 4, left, on Monday, Feb. 15, 2016, in Pyongyang. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved the toughest sanctions on the DPRK in 20 years, reflecting growing anger at Pyongyang’s latest nuclear test and rocket launch in defiance of a ban on all nuclear-related activity.

CCTV America’s ‘s Liling Tan reports from New York.
Follow Liling Tan on Twitter @LilingTan

The United States and China, the DPRK’s traditional ally, spent seven weeks negotiating the new sanctions. They include mandatory inspections of cargo leaving and entering the DPRK 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.

Story by The Associated Press.


International security expert Jim Walsh on DPRK sanctions

CCTV America’s Mike Walter interviewed Jim Walsh, a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Security Studies Program about the U.N. resolution for sanctions on the DPRK.