NEW YORK (United Nations). March 2 (Interfax) - The UN Security Council unanimously endorsed a resolution denouncing North Korea on Wednesday.
This is already the fifth such resolution, envisaging the toughest sanction regime against North Korea of the last 20 years due to the recent test-firing of a ballistic missile.
At first, the UN Security Council was going to consider this document, which has been drafted by the United States and China, on Tuesday, March 1. However, according to information from the U.S. side, the vote was delayed until Wednesday at the request of the Russian side, which has taken some time to study the draft resolution.
At the same time, the document said that new restrictive measures are not aimed at creating unfavorable humanitarian consequences for the population of the country.
For the first time, the resolution urges 192 UN member countries to inspect any ships en route to and from North Korea for illegal goods and introduces a ban on supplies of light small arms.
The document urges all the countries to expel North Korean diplomats who are involved in illegal activity.
The resolution imposes a ban on coal, iron and iron ore export from North Korea, the revenues from which are used for the development of nuclear and missile programs, and envisages a full ban on gold, titanium, vanadium and rare-earth mineral export and bans the supply of aviation and rocket fuel to Pyongyang.
The countries are also invited to freeze the accounts of companies and organizations which are engaged in the North Korean nuclear and missile programs.
The resolution bans all the countries from opening branches and representative offices of North Korean banks, setting up joint ventures with them and compels the countries to close all offices, branches and representative offices of North Korean banks within 90 days and terminate relations with them.
The document expands the list of luxury items, including expensive watches, snowmobiles, personal watercraft and crystal items banned for delivery to North Korea.
The resolution envisions the putting of 16 North Korean citizens and 12 organizations, including the State Space Agency, which was in charge of the February missile test-firing, on the blacklist.
Four sanction resolutions have already been endorsed against North Korea since the first nuclear test in the country in 2006.
The new resolution demands North Korea observe the provisions of the previous sanction resolutions and abandon all types of mass destruction weapons and the program of creating ballistic missiles.
The document expresses the UN Security Council's determination to take further significant measures if Pyongyang conducts new nuclear tests and missile test-firings.
The resolution confirms the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia on the whole and expresses adherence to a peaceful, political and diplomatic settlement of the situation.
The document also calls for the resumption of the six-party talks (Russia, China, the U.S., Japan and the two Koreas) in order to attain the checkable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in the peaceful way.
North Korea withdrew from the negotiating process in 2008.