UN imposes tough new sanctions on North Korea

By

The Associated Press

In this Oct. 10, 2015, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un salutes at a parade in Pyongyang, North Korea. It’s a single image released by an enormous propaganda apparatus, showing a note handwritten by a dictator. And it contains a telling clue to the mindset behind what has become the biggest story in Asia: North Korea’s surprise and disputed claim to have tested its first hydrogen bomb. The Dec. 15, 2015, note from leader Kim Jong Un calls for a New Year marked by the “stunning sound of the explosion of our country’s first hydrogen bomb.” (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council has unanimously approved new sanctions on North Korea including banning exports worth over $1 billion.

The resolution adopted Saturday afternoon would also ban countries from giving any additional permits to North Korean laborers — another source of money for Kim Jong Un’s regime.

The U.S.-drafted measure, negotiated with North Korea’s neighbor and ally China, is aimed at increasing economic pressure on Pyongyang to return to negotiations on its nuclear and missile programs.

It follows North Korea’s first successful tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States last month.

The resolution bans North Korea from exporting coal, iron, lead and seafood products estimated to be worth over $1 billion. This represents one-third of its total exports last year, estimated at $3 billion.