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  • U.N. Security Council Passes New Sanctions on North Korea

    U.S. says U.N. sanctions 'will bite' after North Korea threatens nuclear attack - CNN.com


    U.S. says U.N. sanctions 'will bite' after North Korea threatens nuclear attack
    By Josh Levs and Jethro Mullen, CNN
    updated 2:40 PM EST, Thu March 7, 2013

    (CNN) -- The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed tougher sanctions against North Korea Thursday targeting the secretive nation's nuclear program hours after Pyongyang threatened a possible "preemptive nuclear attack."

    "These sanctions will bite, and bite hard," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said after the vote.

    China, North Korea's key ally, could have used its veto power to block the sanctions. Instead, after weeks of negotiating, it signed on to the final draft.

    "China is a country of principle," China's U.N. Ambassador Li Baodong said. "We are firmly committed to safeguarding peace and stability on the Korean peninsula."

    Leading up to the vote, Pyongyang ratcheted up its bellicose rhetoric.

    A spokesman for the North Korean foreign ministry suggested the United States "is set to light a fuse for a nuclear war."

    As a result, North Korea "will exercise the right to a preemptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors and to defend the supreme interests of the country," the country said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

    Despite the strong language, analysts say North Korea is years away from having the technology necessary to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile and aim it accurately at a target. And, analysts say, North Korea is unlikely to seek a direct military conflict with the United States, preferring instead to try to gain traction through threats and the buildup of its military deterrent.

    But the threat came amid increased concern over Pyongyang's dogged efforts to advance its nuclear and missile technology after a recent long-range rocket launch and underground atomic blast.

    On Tuesday, North Korea said it planned to scrap the armistice that stopped the Korean War in 1953 and warned it could carry out strikes against the United States and South Korea.

    Analysts: 'Boxed in' North Korea's bluster 'particularly dangerous'

    The rhetoric came not only in advance of the U.N. vote, but also as military drills take place on either side of the heavily armed border that divides the two Koreas.

    This week, the United States and South Korean began two months of joint exercises, known as Foal Eagle. North Korea has called the annual training exercises "an open declaration of a war," but South Korea says it notified Pyongyang that the drills "are defensive in nature."

    North Korea's nuclear threat Thursday "may suggest that Pyongyang feels even more boxed in than usual," said Michael Mazza of the American Enterprise Institute.

    And while a nuclear attack itself is not an immediate palpable threat, "This surge in provocative rhetoric is particularly dangerous," added Michael Auslin, also with the institute. "South Korea's new president (Park Geun Hye) can't be seen to back down in the face of the North's threats, while (new North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un may feel that his successful missile and nuclear tests give him the ability to keep pressuring Seoul. The two may wind up talking themselves into conflict."

    South Korea's U.N. Ambassador Kim Sook said Thursday the new resolution "reflects the will of the international community," which "will never tolerate North Korea's repeated violations and North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile program."

    "Each violation will be met by stronger responses and measures," he added.

    Will the new sanctions work?

    The goal of the new sanctions is to stymie the activities of North Korean banks and cash couriers who might be funneling money to the secretive regime's nuclear and missile programs.

    It will be tougher for the regime to move large sums of cash stuffed into suitcases, Rice said.

    The U.N. resolution also outlines measures to step up scrutiny of suspicious sea shipments and air cargo. And it expands restrictions to encompass several institutions and senior officials in the North's weapons industry, as well as a range of materials and technology known to be used in uranium enrichment.

    It also blocks the sale of luxury goods -- such as yachts and certain high-end jewelry -- to North Korea.

    "As a result, North Korea's ruling elite, who have been living large while impoverishing their people, will pay a price" for the ongoing nuclear activities, Rice said.

    Some doubt whether the new measures will make much difference.

    Sanctions imposed after previous nuclear tests and rocket launches have failed to deter Pyongyang.

    China will go a long way toward determining whether the new sanctions really do have "bite," analysts say.

    "As long as China allows North Korea to operate, as long as China provides food, energy assistance, and investment, the sanctions really don't matter," said Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute.

    North Korea notoriously allows many of its people to live in malnutrition and starvation. Still, the country needs a functioning economy, partly to finance its military, Bandow explained.

    "Kim Jong Un is now paying the price for going ahead with a nuclear test despite Chinese warnings not to create trouble during the political transition that has been under way in Beijing the past year," Mark Fitzpatrick, director of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Programme at the UK-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said this week.

    Future levels of Chinese grain sales to North Korea are a possible indicator of Beijing's commitment to putting meaningful pressure on Pyongyang, he said.

    Ken Gause, an analyst with CNA, said the new sanctions won't deter North Korea from building up its nuclear program.

    "North Korea last year inserted language into its constitution that the country is a nuclear power. To walk back from this, especially under pressure from the outside world, would undermine Kim Jong Un's legitimacy and make him vulnerable. He will not do this," said Gause.

    North Korea casts U.N. sanctions as part of an aggressive, U.S.-led conspiracy against it.

    READ: Report: North Korea threatens to end armistice

    READ: Five things to know about North Korea's planned nuclear test

    READ: Tough U.N. action vowed after North Korean nuclear test

    Simmering tensions

    North Korea said the underground nuclear blast it conducted February 12 was more powerful than its two previous detonations and used a smaller, lighter device, suggesting advances in its weapons program.

    It was the first nuclear test the isolated state has carried out since Kim inherited power in December 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, who made building up North Korea's military strength the focus of his 17-year rule.

    The test followed the North's long-range rocket launch in December that succeeded in putting an object in orbit. Pyongyang insisted the launch had peaceful aims, but it was widely viewed as a test of its ballistic missile technology.

    Long history

    North and South Korea have technically been at war for decades. The 1950-53 civil war ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.

    China supported the North with materiel and troops in the Korean War. The United States backed the South in the conflict, with soldiers from the two countries fighting side by side. About 28,500 U.S. soldiers are currently stationed in South Korea.

    CNN's Elise Labott and Richard Roth contributed to this report.
    To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato

  • #2
    So lemme get this straight: you sanction them up the wazoo and they keep coming back with more nuclear tests. So the answer is to hit them with more sanctions? North Korea's people are some of the poorest on this earth, but the leaders always have bread. Maybe it's time someone fessed up to the fact that the sanctions really aren't working?
    Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

    Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

    Comment


    • #3
      But..but...Ben, this time it's UN Sanctions, something the Chinese always blocked up to now. Could bite. All UN members must comply. It won't be perfect; they never are. But this one will hurt more than before. Listen to their rhetoric. It has gone to a new level. They'll have to deal or strike now while they are at their strongest. From here on, their precarious economy gets only more precarious.
      To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato

      Comment


      • #4
        Yeah, Kim Jong Un's really gonna feel the bite, only being able to choose from 6 different cakes for dessert at lunch instead of the usual 8.....
        Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

        Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

        Comment


        • #5
          As the Colonel said, it's all on the Chinese.

          If the Chinese are serious, there wouldn't be a NK ruled by the Kims.

          I'm hoping the Chinese backing this sanction sends a clear message to the Norks...

          But I have a feeling we're still a long way off until the Chinese says, "to hell with this..."

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by bigross86 View Post
            Yeah, Kim Jong Un's really gonna feel the bite, only being able to choose from 6 different cakes for dessert at lunch instead of the usual 8.....
            The ruling elite are going to feel it bite. Up til now China's interests included the ruling elite of Nth Korea. Now China is only negotiating for it's own interests and be damned to the Nth Koreans.
            In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

            Leibniz

            Comment


            • #7
              The Chinese have always pursued stability on the Korean peninsula. That meant keeping the north and south in a state of near-permanent tension. It's possible China views a nuclear-armed north as a threat to that balance and by not exercising its veto over UN sanctions is sending the north a message that it is going too far. Question is, can China restrain the north? Has it decided the time has come to let the north collapse under the weight of its military ambitions? A reunified Korea would be a more manageable neighbor and a great market for China's burgeoning economy.
              To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato

              Comment


              • #8
                A lot simpler explanation. The two Kim deceased had a history with the CCP including wars and alliances where it counted. They cashed in on it.

                Kim Jr is pissing off the Chinese elders and they're going to show the punk who's boss.

                Comment


                • #9
                  N.Korea voids pacts with South as sanctions toughened
                  By Park Chan-Kyong (AFP) – 26 minutes ago
                  SEOUL — North Korea responded to new UN sanctions on Friday with fresh threats of nuclear war, the scrapping of peace pacts with South Korea and the severing of a hotline with Seoul.
                  The latest measures announced by Pyongyang ramped up tensions on the Korean peninsula that have surged since the North staged a third nuclear test last month.
                  On Thursday, the country had threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States and South Korea.
                  Pyongyang is known for its bellicose rhetoric, but the tone has reached a frenzied pitch in recent days, fuelling concerns that it might trigger a border incident, with both North and South planning major military exercises next week.
                  North Korea "abrogates all agreements on non-aggression reached between the North and the South", the state-run Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said in a statement.
                  A non-aggression pact signed in 1991 endorsed the peaceful settlement of disputes and the prevention of accidental military clashes.
                  The CPRK said the pact would be voided as of Monday, the same day that Pyongyang has vowed to rip up the 1953 armistice agreement that ended Korean War hostilities.
                  "It also notifies the South side that it will immediately cut off the North-South hotline," the committee said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
                  The hotline was installed in 1971 and the North has severed it on five occasions in the past -- most recently in 2010.
                  Pyongyang's latest announcement came hours after the UN Security Council beefed up existing sanctions on the communist state in response to its February 12 nuclear test.
                  The resolution adopted by the 15-member Council added new names to the UN sanctions blacklist and tightened restrictions on North Korea's financial dealings, notably its suspect "bulk cash" transfers.
                  The new sanctions will "bite hard", said the US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice. "They increase North Korea's isolation and raise the cost to North Korea's leaders of defying the international community."
                  China wants "full implementation" of the resolution, said its UN envoy Li Baodong, while stressing that efforts must be made to bring North Korea back to negotiations and to defuse tensions.
                  Prior to the Security Council meeting, the North Korean foreign ministry had threatened a "pre-emptive nuclear attack" against the United States and all other "aggressors".
                  The United States responded by saying it was "fully capable" of defending itself and its allies -- including South Korea -- against any missile strike.
                  The CPRK statement Friday condemned the UN resolution as proof that Washington and its "puppets" in Seoul were "hell bent" on confrontation.
                  "North-South relations have gone so far beyond the danger line that they are no longer reparable and an extremely dangerous situation is prevailing on the Korean Peninsula where a nuclear war may break out right now," it said.
                  The statement warned that the North Korean military would respond "mercilessly" to any intrusion -- "even an inch" -- into its land, sea or air space.
                  An annual US-South Korea military exercise known as Foal Eagle is currently underway and another joint drill is scheduled to begin Monday.
                  The North is also believed to be gearing up for nationwide military manoeuvres of its own next week, involving all three wings of its armed forces.
                  While most observers dismiss the North's nuclear war threats as bluster, there are fears about the volatile mix of hair-trigger tension and military exercises.
                  "There's always that risk of a miscalculation and rapid escalation," said Dan Pinkston, a Seoul-based security expert for the International Crisis Group.
                  "Most of this is bluster, but the regime in North Korea is also signalling that it's willing to take greater risks, and that's a dangerous sign," Pinkston told AFP.
                  KCNA said North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on Thursday visited a frontline military unit involved in the shelling of a South Korean island in 2010.
                  During his inspection, Kim declared the North was ready for all-out war and that he would order attacks in all frontline areas in case of any provocation, KCNA said.
                  In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

                  Leibniz

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Answering your question...

                    Can China Restrain the north? Probably. If NK's arrogant behavior reaches the certain level, Beijing will probably step in and will use its leverage: electricity and food. Since nearly 90% NK's electricity and more than half of food are directly coming from China, Beijing can always threaten PY that China will not provide these materials anymore. Then, every KJU will have no choice but to tone down its behavior.


                    Has it decided the time has come to let the north collapse under the weight of its military ambitions? Probably not. China might use its supply leverage to manipulate PY's actions, but it will NEVER let PY collapse on its own....because as you correctly state it, China's #1 priority is peace and stability in the region.

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