The United Nations Security Council(UNSC) has unanimously adopted new sanctions on North Korea following its recent intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
The UNSC approved the United States-drafted resolution last Saturday, 33 days after the North conducted its first ICBM test on July fourth.
Resolution 2371 condemns the launches "in the strongest terms," urging the regime to give up all missile and nuclear weapons programs.
The new sanctions will slash the North’s annual export revenue of three billion U.S. dollars by a third, banning all exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore, and seafood.
The resolution also prohibits additional permits for North Korean workers abroad and restricts new joint ventures with North Korea and additional investments in current joint ventures. North Korean vessels that violate UN resolutions would also be banned from entering all UN member nations.
However, restrictions on oil supplies to North Korea were excluded apparently due to opposition by China and Russia.
Following the North's first ICBM launch early last month, talks on North Korea sanctions made little headway at the Security Council as Washington differed in its stance from Beijing and Moscow.
But Pyongyang's second ICBM launch on July 28 shifted the dynamic. China was pressed by the global opinion that the North's provocations can no longer be overlooked.
The U.S. and China each made concessions and eventually agreed to the new sanctions package.
If the latest measures are faithfully implemented, they are expected to tighten the purse strings of the Kim Jong-un regime.
The key is again China's implementation and its will to clamp down on violations of the UN resolution.