United Nations : The UN Security Council has passed a resolution imposing new sanctions on North Korea for its continued intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) testing and violations of UN resolutions, the media reported.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, speaking at the Security Council meeting where the vote took place on Saturday, said: “Monday (July 31), we said that the time for talking was over and that it was time for action. Today you’re going to see the action.

“It’s going to hit hard but it’s going to make a strong point to North Korea that all this ICBM and this nuclear irresponsibility has to stop,” CNN quoted Haley as saying.

With 15 votes in favour, Resolution 2371 was passed unanimously.

The resolution targets North Korea’s primary exports, including coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore, seafood and other revenue streams, such as banks and joint ventures with foreign companies.

The sanctions will slash North Korea’s annual export revenue of $3 billion by more than a third, according to a statement from Haley’s office.

The resolution represents “the strongest sanctions ever imposed in response to a ballistic missile test”, the statement said.

Pyongyang tested two ICBMs in July, claiming it now had the ability to hit the US.

Haley praised the unanimous vote on the resolution, saying that the UN “spoke with one voice”.

“To have China stand with us, along with Japan and (South Korea) and the rest of the international community telling North Korea to do this, it’s pretty impactful,” the UN ambassador told CNN in an interview after the vote.

“This was a strong day in the UN, it was a strong day for the United States and it was a strong day for the international community. It was not a good day for North Korea.”

In response, China’s ambassador, Liu Jieyi, said the resolution showed that the world was “united in its position regarding the nuclear position on the Korean peninsula”, the BBC reported.

UK ambassador Matthew Rycroft said: “North Korea bears full responsibility for the measures we have enacted today.

“It does not have to be this way. North Korea should forgo the path of provocation, forgo the path of further escalation.”

A resolution needs nine votes in favour, and no vetoes by the US, China, Russia, France or Britain, to be adopted.

The measures would be the seventh set of UN sanctions imposed on North Korea since it first carried out a nuclear test in 2006.

—IANS