MILITARY/NORTH KOREA/UN: “The Trump administration on Wednesday [9-6-17] circulated a draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council that would effectively empower the United States Navy and Air Force to interdict North Korean ships at sea, inspect them to determine whether they are carrying weapons material or fuel into the country, and use ‘all necessary measures’ to enforce compliance.
The language is included in a remarkably broad draft that would ban the shipment of all crude oil, refined petroleum and natural gas to North Korea, essentially seeking to plunge a country of 25 million people into a deep freeze this winter if its leaders fail to begin giving up their nuclear weapon and missile programs.
The resolution — circulated three days after the North conducted its largest nuclear test to date — would also seek to block all the assets of Kim Jong-un, the country’s leader, and virtually all the assets of the country’s military and its sole political party.
The resolution, which the American ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, said this week she wanted to bring to a vote by next Monday, seems certain to meet vociferous objections from China and Russia. Both hold veto power at the Security Council.
But if the sections authorizing interdictions at sea survive, it could set the stage for some of the tensest encounters on the high seas since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when President John F. Kennedy ordered a complete blockade around the island to prevent Soviet missiles from being installed.”
-David E. Sanger, “U.S. Seeks U.N. Consent to Interdict North Korean Ships,” The New York Times online, Sept. 6, 2017