UN Expects to Impose North Korea Sanctions Saturday

As US intelligence confirmed Monday's nuclear test, the UN Security Council announced that it expects to impose arms and financial sanctions on North Korea on Saturday for the action.

|PIC1|Although Russia and China have also submitted new amendments to a US-drafted UN resolution - which are expected to delay the vote by several hours - the US Ambassador John Bolton said he was still confident the resolution would be adopted on Saturday, reports Reuters.

A US official said Friday that a preliminary US intelligence analysis in Washington has shown radioactivity in air samples collected near a suspected North Korean nuclear test site.

"That's right, though this is only a first look. People have been saying all along that the working assumption is it was a nuke," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

At the United Nations, Bolton said on Friday evening that weapons-related "technical" amendments had arrived from Moscow, which council members were studying, Reuters reported.

"I'm still ready to go for a vote. We will just have to see what the instructions are overnight in particular from Moscow and China," Bolton said. "It is late in the process and the imperative for swift action because of the North Korean nuclear test remains."

The latest version of the US-drafted resolution does not include military force under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter - a compromise move to secure Russia and China's support.

Although the resolution has never threatened force, China has been keen to ensure no military action against North Korea could be justified by the measure.

China's main concern lay with the most controversial provision in the text that authorizes nations to search cargo going to and from North Korea for nuclear materials or ballistic missiles, China's UN ambassador, Wang Guangya, outlined on Friday.

China wants the wording softened to make interdiction less mandatory in the resolution, while Russia has criticised other parts of the text, Reuters said.

"We are not at the final text yet," Wang said.

The draft UN resolution would prohibit the transfer or development of weapons of mass destruction and ban sales of luxury goods to North Korea. It would freeze funds overseas of people or businesses connected with Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

It also imposes an arms embargo on heavy conventional weapons and allows a travel ban on individuals connected with North Korea's dangerous weapons programmes, and their families, if a council sanctions committee approves the names.