North Korea will take "strong countermeasures" against Japan if it goes ahead with new sanctions against the country, a senior North Korean diplomat was quoted as saying today.
Japan's Kyodo news agency, in a report out of Pyongyang, quoted Song Il-ho, North Korea's ambassador in charge of diplomatic normalisation talks with Japan, as making the comment over Tokyo's decision to implement new steps in response to Pyongyang's announcement on Monday that it conducted a nuclear test.
A UN-response, in the form of a resolution, will be considered today and voted on tomorrow.
But one controversial provision in the US-drafted resolution, was authorisation for international inspections of cargo moving into and out of North Korea to detect weapons-related material.
China, diplomats said, had rejected it, but that provision is still in the text, circulated to the 15 Security Council members.
Beijing has opposed sanctions in the past as a way to curb North Korea's nuclear program but China has agreed to some measures if they are narrowly focussed, following North Korea's announcement on Monday it had tested a nuclear weapon.
The draft still calls for an arms embargo, a freeze on any transfer or development of weapons of mass destruction and a ban on the sale of luxury goods to the reclusive, Communist state.
And it would impose financial sanctions targeted at ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.
Many of the changes involve softening of some language and the draft does not set a date for a review of the sanctions or threaten further measures.
US Ambassador John Bolton, who acknowledged there were "a number of disagreements," intends to introduce a new draft resolution formally to the Security Council members on Thursday with the aim of calling a vote tomorrow.
Council members usually need at least 24 hours after a resolution is introduced to vote for its adoption.