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Let's start with the international community's unequivocal message to North Korea.
The United Nations Security Council has unanimously passed a fresh list of sanctions against North
Korea for its recent nuclear test.
UN officials say the new resolution is by far the toughest ever imposed on Pyongyang.
Hwang Sung-hee starts us off.
Meeting at UN headquarters in New York on Thursday, all 15 members of the Security Council
said yes to stronger sanctions against North Korea for its third nuclear test last month.
The fresh list of sanctions - dubbed Resolution 2094 - obliges the UN's 1-hundred-and-93 member
states to block any financial transactions or monetary transfers that could contribute
to Pyongyang's nuclear or ballistic missile programs.
It also spells out tightened inspections of suspicious land, sea or air cargo departing
from or heading to the communist state.
The Council blacklisted two North Korean enterprises and three individuals working for North Korean
companies that are believed to be involved in Pyongyang's missile program and arms trade.
Following the meeting, UN officials called on North Korea to make the right decision
this time.
"The entire world stands united in our commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula
and in our demand that North Korea comply with its international obligation."
"North Korea must wake up from its delusion of becoming a nuclear state, nuclear weapons
state, and make the right choice."
China, North Korea's closest ally, gave its full support to the resolution and said it
wants to see the sanctions being carried out.
"Adoption of the resolution itself is not enough. Adoption of the resolution is not
for the sake of the adoption, not for the sake of the sanctions.
We want to see full implementation of the resolution."
The resolution - the fourth in its kind - is intended to bring the sanctions against North
Korea more in line with measures slapped on Iran, which council diplomats say were surprisingly
effective in slowing down its nuclear program.
The Council warned that further provocations by the North will be met with further significant
measures, but added the international community is open for dialogue.
Experts say the effectiveness of the new resolution lies in the hands of Beijing, as it has often
extended a helping hand to the North when it was shut out by the international community
in the past.
Hwang Sung-hee, Arirang News.