U.N. sends strong message to North Korea

U.N. Security Council passes new sanctions on North Korea United Nations Security Council members vote to impose a fourth round of sanctions on North Korea at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on March 7, 2013. The United Nations Security Council approved a new regimen of sanctions on Thursday against North Korea for its underground nuclear test last month, imposing penalties on North Korean banking, travel and trade in a unanimous vote that reflected the countries increased international isolation. UPI/Rick Bajornas/HO

UNITED NATIONS, March 7 (UPI) — The U.N. Security Council sent a strong message to North Korea that it won’t tolerate its pursuit of nuclear weapons, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

The Security Council, in a unanimous vote Thursday, adopted Resolution 2094 that censured North Korea for its February underground nuclear test.

“The Security Council has sent an unequivocal message to North Korea that the international community will not tolerate its pursuit of nuclear weapons and related acts,” Ban said through his spokesman.

North Korea said its February test was part its campaign against the United States. It warned recently that it would pull out of the armistice that halted the Korean War of the 1950s and said it was considering a nuclear strike on the United States, reports Bloomberg News.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University assessed that North Korea doesn’t have the ability to strike the United States with a nuclear-armed missile.

The U.N. resolution passed Thursday targets North Korea’s financial actions that may be financing the country’s nuclear and missile technology. The United States and China presented a draft of the resolution early this week.

Glyn Davies, special U.S. envoy on North Korea policy, testified Thursday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that North Korea’s conventional military and nuclear weapons activity presented an “unacceptable threat” to national security.

“If the North Korean regime is at all wise, it will re-embark on the path to denuclearization for the benefit of the North Korean people, the Northeast Asia region, and the world,” he said.