HONOLULU -- Hat's off to Pyongyang! It has helped to accomplish in 10 days what American officials had failed to accomplish in almost four years of diplomacy: a unanimous United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution that not only condemns its July 5 (Fourth of July in the United States) missile launches and demands that North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK) "suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile programs," but that also deplores North Korea's nuclear-weapons aspirations.
Much has been made in the press coverage of UNSC 1695 about the fact that it does not cite Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter (which makes measures enforceable by armed action if necessary). But this was no watered-down resolution. If one compares the initial "hardline" Japanese draft with the considerably toned down initial Chinese/Russian proposal for a "presidential statement," the final product is no middle-ground compromise; it is tough and comprehensive. While we may never know the details of the Chinese diplomatic mission to North Korea that preceded the resolution's passage, one could safely guess that Pyongyang was as defiant and disagreeable in private as it has been in public about its sovereign right to conduct "military exercises for self-defense."
The 15 UNSC members clearly thought otherwise. In addition to demanding an end to all ballistic missile activities, the resolution also "requires" all member states to prevent missile-related goods and technology from being transferred to the North and also "requires" all member states to "prevent the procurement" of such goods from North Korea, while banning the "transfer of any financial resources in relation to North Korea's missile or WMD (weapons of mass destruction) programs." While the terms "embargo" or "sanctions" are not used, the intent is crystal clear: no sales of missiles or missile-related technology to North Korea and no purchases of such weapons from Pyongyang as well.