A historic reaction.

I've been meaning to gather the info for a post of this type for about a week now.

I have about 20-30 links on information regarding the hugely historic, and frankly frightening 'test' that went on in North Korea Sunday night (our time, Monday morning, theirs).

Here's an article of their reaction. Unfortunately the idiotic news page had a looping ad that when stopped, would soon refresh and start again, so I merely have the text to read.

Tomorrow when I remember to forward most of my links from work, you will have a large resource to draw from for what's been going on this week.

I urge you all to watch for North Korea's reaction to these sanctions as they have threatened to not only use it as an act of war, but to raze Tokyo and New York over sanctions on their "peaceful" and "defensive" test. Without further adieu, here is the article:



Tough sanctions stun North Korea
David Nason, New York correspondent
October 16, 2006
THE UN Security Council has shocked North Korea with a series of harsh economic and arms sanctions that punish the Stalinist dictatorship for its provocative nuclear test last week.

The council's historic Resolution 1718 will deprive North Korea of military hardware such as tanks, missiles, artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters and warships; freeze the financial assets of entities and individuals involved in weapons programs; impose travel and financial bans on key figures in the Pyongyang regime; and ban all trade in luxury goods, including the lobster and fine French wine cherished by supreme leader Kim Jong-il.

The US-drafted resolution also authorises UN member states to interdict and search cargo ships going to and from North Korean ports for weapons and weapons material.

And it demands that North Korea return to the table for talks on its military agenda and immediately abandon all its nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction programs in a "complete, verifiable and irreversible manner".

But the resolution carries no mention of follow-up military action if North Korea refuses to comply, although the US has warned that it will seek further measures in the council if Pyongyang continues its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The resolution, the toughest passed by the Security Council for many years, was branded "gangster-like" by Pyongyang's UN ambassador Pak Gil-yon before he angrily stormed from the council chamber, the second time he has done so this year.

Mr Pak accused the council of double standards and said Pyongyang would regard any further US pressure as a "declaration of war".

"It is gangster-like of the Security Council to have adopted today a coercive resolution while neglecting the nuclear threat and moves for sanctions and pressure of the US against the DPRK," Mr Pak said.

"This clearly testifies that the Security Council has completely lost its impartiality."

But US ambassador John Bolton said North Korea's nuclear agenda represented a grave threat to international peace and security.

"We are sending a strong and clear message to North Korea and other would-be proliferators that there will be serious repercussions in continuing to pursue weapons of mass destruction," Mr Bolton said.

Resolution 1718 was a personal triumph for Mr Bolton, who managed to persuade a hesitant China not to veto the inclusion of the clause authorising the interdiction and inspection of cargo going to and from North Korea.

The provision effectively extends the controversial Proliferation Security Initiative, an informal alliance of some 60 nations including Australia that was set up by the US in 2002 to guard against the trade in weapons of mass destruction and related materials.

Initially China, which is North Korea's largest trading partner, wanted the provision left out, saying it was unnecessarily provocative and could escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula.

But after tense negotiations at UN headquarters in New York, China let it go through while expressing its own deep reservations about the measure.

"China strongly urges the countries concerned to adopt a prudent and responsible attitude in this regard and refrain from taking any provocative steps that may intensify the tensions," China's UN ambassador Wang Guangya said.

Unlike previous sanctions imposed on North Korea after it conducted missile tests earlier this year, Resolution 1718 includes a sanctions committee comprising representatives of all 15 council members to monitor and report on any violations every 90 days.

The sanctions committee will have the power to lift the freeze on financial assets in selected cases where funds are needed for foodstuffs, rent or mortgage payments, medicines and medical treatment, taxes, insurance premiums and public utility charges.

On a case-by-case basis, the sanctions committee can also approve exceptions to the travel ban for religious obligations and the like.

The resolution gives the UN's 192 member nations 30 days to report to the council on the measures they have taken to comply with the resolution.

The resolution said Pyongyang must immediately retract its announced withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and accept safeguards through the International Atomic Energy Agency. It must also revive the stalled six-party talks of the two Koreas, Japan, China, Russia and the US without precondition.