The United States formally requested Friday on the UN Security Council to vote on Monday their draft resolution providing for severe new sanctions against North Korea, the US diplomatic mission said in a statement. The US plan includes an oil embargo, a ban on North Korean textile imports, a freeze on the assets of the North Korean leader, the return of North Korean expatriates to their country, and the possibility of inspecting, if necessary by force, of suspicious vessels on the high seas.
At a meeting of experts on Friday of the 15 members of the Security Council, Russia and China opposed all measures except textiles, according to diplomatic sources.
One month after a ban on imports of North Korean coal, iron and crustaceans, the 15 members of the Security Council, including China and Russia, seem to agree, according to several diplomatic sources, new measures sanctioning the latest North Korean nuclear test of 3 September.
Several experts and diplomatic sources therefore believe that the Security Council will reach an "agreement", the Americans appearing ready to negotiate.
US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, had already announced Monday that the United States wanted to vote one week after September 11. But in the meantime, Russia had suggested that it was premature. "I do not think we are able to go that fast," said UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia.