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The UN Security Council on March 2 unanimously adopted a resolution imposing new and broader sanctions aimed at stemming advances in North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and its arms trade with other states.
Resolution 2270, prompted by Pyongyang's nuclear test on Jan. 6 and launch of a satellite using ballistic missile technology on Feb. 7, is the fifth resolution passed by the council on North Korea and nonproliferation since 2006.
The new resolution is "the strongest message" that the Security Council has delivered to North Korea since Pyongyang decided to abandon the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), Román Oyarzun Marchesi, Spanish ambassador to the United Nations and chair of the council's specialized sanctions committee on North Korea, said during a March 2 press briefing.
North Korea announced its withdrawal from the treaty in 2003, an action that NPT members have not officially recognized.
Oyarzun highlighted a "number of new elements" in the resolution, including a ban on the export of aviation fuel to North Korea, a requirement that states expel North Korean representatives engaged in activities prohibited by previous Security Council resolutions on North Korea, a requirement that states inspect all North Korean goods transiting their territories, "severe restrictions" on North Korea's ability to operate a fleet of foreign-flagged vessels, a ban on the export of specialized minerals, and "unprecedented" provisions on banking.
The resolution closes gaps in the arms embargo imposed by the earlier resolutions, he said. It also blocks North Korea's access to its assets in other countries, imposes a travel ban on more than two dozen new entities and individuals, and names 31 specific vessels subject...