Seoul: North Korea fires short-range projectiles into sea

It was not immediately clear what the projectiles were – but if they were missiles, it would be a clear contravention of United Nations resolutions and a sign that North Korea is spoiling for a fight.

The most recent sanctions come as a reaction to the country’s test of its fourth hydrogen bomb and launch of a satellite earlier this year.

“The EU will swiftly transpose this resolution into EU law and will consider whether additional autonomous restrictive measures are called for to complement this resolution”, EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement. It wants to establish a center in South Korea’s Unification Ministry which would archive and publish information about human rights in North Korea.

Nonetheless, Beijing did agree to several measures aimed at shutting down financing for nuclear and missile programs.

On Wednesday afternoon in NY, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted harsh sanctions against North Korea, imposing some of the strongest measures ever used to pressure Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

“Our collective security demands that we stop North Korea from continuing along this destructive and destabilising course”, Power said.

“Virtually all of the DPRK’s [North Korea] resources are channeled into its reckless and relentless pursuit of weapons of mass destruction”, said Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, shortly after the vote. DPRK stands for the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The move escalated tensions on the Korean peninsula. The Rajin-Khasan joint trade logistics project with North Korea would not be affected by the sanctions, Churkin told the news agency.

Newly blacklisted individuals include a senior official in North Korea’s long-range missile program, senior officials at NADA, officials for Tanchon Commercial Bank in Syria and Vietnam, and Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (KOMID) representatives in Iran and Syria.

The resolution provides for a ban or severe restrictions on exports of coal, iron and iron ore, gold, titanium and rare earth minerals from North Korea, and prohibits the supply of aviation fuel including rocket fuel.

In the financial and banking sector, countries are required to freeze the assets of companies and other entities linked to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

Hours after the resolution was passed, North Korea fired short-range missiles towards the Sea of Japan.

At a customs inspection lot in Dandong on Thursday, the drivers of three vehicles with North Korean licence plates returning home – a Mercedes, a BMW and a Lexus minivan – went inside to show their passports.

The resolution emphasizes that the new sanctions are not meant to cause “adverse humanitarian consequences” for civilians.

The UNHRC has adopted resolutions on North Korean human rights every year since 2003, while the UN General Assembly has adopted resolutions urging improvements to the country’s human rights conditions since 2005.