A vote on the draft resolution has been scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday in the U. N. Security Council
UNITED NATIONS — A proposed new U. N. sanctions resolution would significantly increase economic pressure on North Korea to return to negotiations on its nuclear and missile programs by banning mineral and seafood exports worth over $1 billion — a third of its total exports last year, a Security Council diplomat said Friday.
The draft resolution obtained by CBS News would also prohibit countries from giving any new permits to North Korean overseas guest workers, ban new joint ventures with North Korean companies and slash new foreign investment in joint ventures that are already operating, CBS News’ Pamela Falk reports.
Egypt, which holds the Security Council presidency, said a vote on the draft resolution has been scheduled for 3 p.m. EDT on Saturday.
For over a decade, the U. N. and the U. S. have tried and failed to halt the advancement of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program through sanctions that have been skirted by many nations and without the full support of China, the North’s principal trading partner.
The Security Council is set to vote on a U. S.-penned resolution on Saturday, with the goal of pressuring Pyongyang and its rogue leader Kim Jong Un from continuing to develop its intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear capability.
The resolution, written with the input of U. S. Ambassador Nikki Haley and experts at the State Department, is seen as a diplomatic coup because new punishing sanctions would not be possible without the support of China, which has been reluctant to add pressure on North Korea.
The key issue going forward will be if these sanctions will be enforced and whether the sanctions will lead to the opening of negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to put his nuclear program under international supervision.
The proposed new sanctions follow North Korea’s first successful tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States on July 3 and July 27. The Security Council has already imposed six rounds of sanctions that have failed to halt North Korea’s drive to improve its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons capabilities.
The draft resolution condemns the launches « in the strongest terms » and reiterates previous calls for North Korea to suspend all ballistic missile launches and abandon its nuclear weapons and nuclear program « in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner.
