UN Security Council unanimously adopts tougher sanctions on North Korea

epaselect USA UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL NORTH KOREA — epaselect epa06127008 Members of the United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution to implement new sanctions against North Korea as way to pressure Kim Jong Un's regime to return to international nuclear and missile negotiations at United Nations headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 05 August 2017. EPA/JUSTIN LANE

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously approved a new resolution, banning North Korea’s textile exports and capping its oil imports following Pyongyang’s sixth nuclear test conducted last week.

The UNSC resolution was passed Monday after Washington agreed to revise the draft to accommodate the positions and concerns voiced by Beijing and Moscow.

Following a series of behind-the-scenes negotiations Sunday, diplomats agreed not to ban oil exports into North Korea. Instead, the ninth set of restrictive sanctions against Pyongyang, unanimously adopted by the 15-member UN Security Council, following North Korea’s sixth nuclear test earlier his month, authorized a cap of 2 million barrels a year of sales of refined petroleum products to North Korea, Reuters reported. The sanctions also place a cap on crude oil exports to the communist regime at current levels.

The UNSC also placed a ban on the country’s textile exports, North Korea’s second-biggest export, totaling $752 million, according to data from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.

Chinese and Russian negotiators have also managed to persuade the US delegation not to impose a travel ban or asset freeze on Kim Jong-un.