UN imposes harsh new sanctions on DPRK over its nuclear program

The resolution, which dramatically expands existing sanctions, follows the DPRK's latest nuclear test on January 6 and a February 7 rocket launch that Washington and its allies said used banned ballistic missile technology. Pyongyang said it was a peaceful satellite launch.

US Ambassador Samantha Power said the sanctions go further than any UN sanctions regime in two decades and aim to cut off funds for the DPRK's nuclear and other banned weapons programs.

Two council diplomats said on condition of anonymity that the new resolution makes the DPRK's sanctions regime even tougher than the Iran sanctions regime that they say led to a decision on Tehran's part to agree to an historic nuclear deal last year that led to most restrictions being lifted in January.

All cargo going to and from the DPRK must now be inspected and the DPRK's trade representatives in Syria, Iran and Vietnam are among 16 individuals added to a UN blacklist, along with 12 DPRK's entities.

Previously states only had to inspect such shipments if they had reasonable grounds to believe they contained illicit goods.

"Virtually all of the DPRK's resources are channeled into its reckless and relentless pursuit of weapons of mass destruction," Power told the council after the vote, adding that the cargo inspection provisions are "hugely significant."

She said the point of the resolution was to target the country's leadership, not its impoverished people, adding that the DPRK is "a master of evasion" and would continue to try to evade the sanctions although the new measures would make that harder.

There was no immediate reaction from the the DPRK UN mission. The official DPRK's news agency KCNA said on February 29 the proposed sanctions were "a wanton infringement on (DPRK's) sovereignty and grave challenge to it."