WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement on the latest UN Security Council Resolution on North Korea:

“I welcome today’s action by the United Nations Security Council to pass very robust and significant new sanctions in response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test and missile launch.  Ambassador Power and her team are to be commended for their good work.

“It is essential for the international community to take concrete steps to demonstrate to the regime in Pyongyang that if it continues down it current path of provocation and prevarication it will face only isolation and, ultimately, its demise.  This new UN Security Council Resolution is an important and concrete step, and includes significant new measures on conventional arms, financial and banking sanctions, sectoral sanctions, cargo inspections and interdiction, and measures to address the potential transfer of North Korean nuclear and missile technology.  UNSCR 2270 builds on and compliments the unilateral and mandatory  sanctions on North Korea recently passed by Congress.

“At the end of the day, however, the words of a Resolution are only as good as the determination of members of the international community to follow through and make them reality.  The designations mandated under this new Resolution must be fully and aggressively implemented, including by China.

“A robust sanctions regime and sustained and determined international action which deprive North Korea of the financial resources and the technology it needs to continue, sustain, and develop its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs are essential.   These steps are vital for safeguarding our national security and that of our allies, Korea and Japan. 

“These sanctions by the UNSC must also be coupled with necessary and appropriate adjustments to U.S. and ROK military posture to deter future North Korean provocations, including the deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system for the Republic of Korea.”

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