North Korea rejects UN sanctions vote [video report]

North Korea's Pak Gil Yon said the resolution had a 'despicable aim'. Picture / Reuters

UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday for a resolution requiring nations to prevent North Korea from getting dangerous weapons and demanding Pyongyang halt its ballistic missile programme.

North Korea immediately "totally rejected" the resolution. Its UN Ambassador Pak Gil Yon told the council that Pyongyang's missile development served "to keep the balance of force and preserving peace and stability in Northeast Asia."

In response, US Ambassador John Bolton said Pak "set a world record in rejecting it within 45 minutes after its adoption," adding: "I could exercise the right of reply on behalf of the United States -- but on the other hand, why bother?"

The resolution is the first on North Korea since 1993, when the council urged Pyongyang to open military sites to nuclear inspectors and reverse its decision to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The 15-member Security Council had wrangled for 10 days over the response to North Korea's seven missile tests on July 5. One of those included a long-range Taepodong-2 missile, which could theoretically hit the continental United States but fell into the Sea of Japan.

Agreement came after Japan and the United States bowed to a veto threat from China and dropped a reference to a provision in the UN Charter, usually used to impose mandatory sanctions. In turn, China and Russia accepted stronger language in the resolution than they had first proposed.

The resolution requires all UN member states "in accordance with their national legal authorities" to prevent imports and exports of any material or funds relating to the reclusive Communist nation's missile programmes or weapons of mass destruction.

It demands North Korea "suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile programme," and re-establish a moratorium on the launching of missiles.

Japan initiated the resolution and its vice minister for foreign affairs, Shintaro Ito, said the Security Council had "acted swiftly and robustly in response to the reckless and condemnable act" of North Korea's missile tests, which Tokyo considered a "direct threat to its security."

South Korea's Foreign Ministry, in a statement, urged the North to listen to the Security Council's message, reinstate a moratorium on missile launches and rejoin the six-nation talks on its nuclear programme, which Pyongyang left in November.

China's UN Ambassador Wang Guangya said Beijing was greatly concerned by the missile launches but urged nations not to add to tensions on the Korean peninsula.

As North Korea's closest ally, China sent a week-long high-level mission to Pyongyang but had scant success in persuading it to put a moratorium on missile launches and to return to stalled six-party talks on its nuclear ambitions.

North Korea still insists Washington first has to lift financial sanctions, according to a South Korean news agency quoting a South Korean official on the Chinese visit.

At the United Nations, the Security Council was divided until hours before the vote over inclusion of Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which makes it a resolution mandatory and allows for military force if another specific resolution is adopted.

China had threatened to veto the measure if Chapter 7 were mentioned, recalling the US-led invasion of Iraq that did not receive specific council authorisation.

Consequently, Japan, the United States, Britain and France had no choice but to drop the phrase. But they still considered the language of the resolution tough and binding.

Instead, Britain worked out a compromise that said the Security Council was "acting under its special responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security."

- REUTERS