US, China agree to expand North Korea sanctions

The United States will submit to the UN Security Council on Thursday a draft resolution that would expand sanctions against North Korea over its latest nuclear test, a spokesman for the US mission to the United Nation said.

“Ambassador (Samantha) Power intends to submit for consideration by the Security Council a draft sanctions resolution in response to (North Korea’s) recent nuclear test and subsequent proscribed ballistic missile launch,” spokesman Kurtis Cooper said in a statement. “We look forward to working with the council on a strong and comprehensive response to the DPRK’s (North Korea’s) latest series of tests aimed at advancing their nuclear weapons program,” he said.

On Wednesday council diplomats said the United States and China had agreed on a draft resolution and hoped to put it to a vote in the 15-nation council in the coming days.

The two veto powers had been negotiating on the text for the past seven weeks following Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test on January 6. “It’s a substantive, long, full draft,” a senior council diplomat said.

In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said “important progress” had been made on the resolution and that “hopefully consensus can be reached soon”.

“We hope and believe this new resolution can help effectively constrain North Korea from further developing its nuclear missile program,” Mr Hua told a regular press briefing on Thursday.

The draft resolution is expected to call for the blacklisting of a number of individuals and entities, diplomats said. They were reluctant to provide further details. North Korea’s ministry of atomic energy industry and its national aerospace development agency, the body responsible for February’s rocket launch, will be amongst the sanctioned entities, South Korea’s Yonhap news reported.

The secretive General Reconnaissance Bureau, already sanctioned by the United States for its suspected role in the 2014 cyber attack on Sony Pictures, was also included in the blacklist, Yonhap said.

The council is scheduled to discuss the UN North Korea sanctions regime on Thursday at 3 pm (20:00 GMT), the UN press office said.

China and the United States have had different views on how strong the response should be to North Korea since Pyongyang’s nuclear test last month, with Washington urging harsh punitive measures and Beijing emphasising dialogue and milder UN steps confined to non-proliferation.