U.N. Security Council set to vote on North Korea sanctions

Sept. 11 (UPI) -- The United Nations Security Council is to vote on a new sanctions resolution that could place more economic pressure on North Korea, but Kim Jong Un's assets are not targets, Yonhap reported.

The final draft of the resolution also contains language regarding oil exports to North Korea.

Crude oil will continue to be supplied to the relatively isolated state, but will not exceed two million barrels per year, Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported.

In order for the resolution to be adopted, more than nine of the 15 permanent as well as non-permanent members of the Security Council must vote in favor of further sanctions.

The five permanent members of the Security Council are the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain.

North Korea is not happy with the plans, and issued a warning ahead of the vote.

Pyongyang's Workers' Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun stated Monday if the United States "implements sanctions against North Korea at the U.N. Security Council, there will be a price to pay."

A spokesman for the North Korean foreign ministry issued a similar statement through the official Korean Central News Agency, claiming Pyongyang is "ready to destroy" and employ other "last resort methods."

"Right now the United States is trying to use our hydrogen bomb tests to concoct the worst 'sanctions resolution'," KCNA stated. "Instead of properly facing general trends and making the right choice, the United States is using our fair self-defense measures as a pretext to completely suffocate us by strangling our necks."

North Korea has been public about its most recent nuclear test, but has been less transparent about the scope of its nuclear facilities.

A panel of experts with the U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committee found North Korea nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, the test site at Punggye-ri and a uranium mine near Pyongsan are active, Voice of America reported Sunday.

North Korea also continues to cooperate militarily with countries in Africa, including Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Mozambique, Namibia, Uganda and Tanzania -- as well as with the Assad regime in Syria, according to the report.