NZ endorses new UN sanctions on North Korea

Foreign Minister Murray McCully today welcomed a United Nations Security Council Resolution imposing strengthened sanctions on North Korea following their fifth nuclear test, conducted in September. 

“New Zealand strongly condemns North Korea’s nuclear tests as a provocative and dangerous challenge to regional security,” Mr McCully says.

“North Korea’s actions have directly defied the UN Security Council, which has demanded that the country cease nuclear and missile tests.

“The resolution adopted today tightens the sanctions regime, in effect since 2006, and specifically targets North Korea’s mineral exports, diplomatic activity, and transport links.  The new sanctions will cap North Korea’s coal exports at 40 per cent of current levels, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in lost export earnings.

“These are some of the strongest UN sanctions ever imposed and this reflects the international community’s deep concern about North Korea’s behaviour,” Mr McCully says.