UN slaps new sanctions on N Korea

Washington DC [United States], Dec 23 (ANI): The United Nations Security Council has slapped new sanctions on North Korea in backdrop of its recent ballistic missile tests.

The 15-member Security Council unanimously adopted a new set of US-drafted sanctions on the reclusive country that will further strangle its energy supplies and tighten restrictions on smuggling and the use of North Korean workers overseas, reported CNN.

The latest penalties seek to halt nearly 90 percent of the country's refined petroleum imports, and limit crude oil supplies to 4 million barrels a year.

The resolution also orders North Koreans who work abroad to return to the country within 24 months.

In addition to this, the resolution also bans exports of industrial equipment, machinery, transportation vehicles and industrial metals to the DPRK.

The resolution passed by a vote of 15 to 0.

The US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said, "Today, we cut deeper."

The UN had repeatedly offered Pyongyang a choice and repeatedly, in its continued missile tests, the regime had "chosen the path of isolation," Haley added.

Hailing the UN Security Council's vote United States President Donald Trump took to Twitter to express, "The United Nations Security Council just voted 15-0 in favor of additional Sanctions on North Korea. The World wants Peace, not Death!"

The U.S. and North Korea have long been engaged in back-and-forth barbs over the latter's threat of a nuclear attack.

Trump threatened to rain "fire and fury" on North Korea and also called Kim Jong-un as "Little Rocket Man", while North Korea denounced Trump as a "mentally deranged U.S. dotard."(ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI