UN Security Council to vote on North Korea resolution on Wednesday

The U.S. mission to the United Nations confirmed late Monday that it had requested the vote be held after the council meets to discuss its program for March starting at 3 p.m. EST.

Last week the United States presented to the 15-nation council a draft resolution it negotiated with China that would significantly tighten restrictions after North Korea’s nuclear test and rocket launch, and create what it described as the toughest U.N. sanctions regime in two decades. Previously states only had to do this if they had reasonable grounds to believe there was illicit cargo.

Also listed are leaders of key North Korean companies responsible for illicit programs.

Amb. Vitaly Churkin said Tuesday that the draft sanctions resolution is “not 100 percent perfect” but is necessary, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

“The United States, South Korea and Japan have stopped outsourcing to China their policy on North Korea”, said Roberta Cohen, an expert on North Korea at the US Brookings think tank.

Pyongyang denied the February 7 launch involved banned ballistic missile technology, saying it was a peaceful satellite launch. It would also order countries to close all North Korean banks and terminate all banking relationships within 90 days.

He said in a speech in Geneva that because Pyongyang possesses a powerful nuclear and military deterrent, the United States and others had no other choice but to make an issue out of the country’s human rights record.

It also adds 17 individuals and 12 entities to the U.N.’s sanctions blacklist, including North Korea’s space agency NADA, and requires nations to expel North Korean diplomats engaging in illegal activities. In 2013 Russia reopened a railway link with North Korea, from the Russian eastern border town of Khasan to Rajin, to export coal and import goods from South Korea and other Asian countries.

On January 6, Pyongyang said it had successfully carried out a hydrogen bomb test which triggered a wave of condemnation from the global community.

The draft resolution reiterates “the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in northeast Asia at large, and expresses its commitment to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution to the situation”.

It also expresses the council’s “determination to take further significant measures” in the event of another North Korean nuclear test or launch.

Power stressed that the resolution is not meant to punish the people of North Korea.