US, China call for new UN sanctions on N. Korea
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U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke, center, is mobbed by journalists as he attends the opening session of the annual National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Tuesday, March 5, 2013. The United States and China have reached an agreement on a new draft sanctions resolution to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test, U.N. diplomats said late Monday. -- PHOTO: AP
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The United States and China on Tuesday called on the UN Security Council to sanction North Korean diplomats and "illicit" cash transfers to step up pressure on Pyongyang's nuclear programme.
But the isolated North fueled tensions, threatening to scrap an armistice that halted the 1950-53 Korean War and warning that it could launch "strong" counter-measures against what it called US hostility.
US ambassador Susan Rice circulated the text of a sanctions resolution to the other 14 members of the Security Council on Tuesday.
Diplomats said a vote could be held on Thursday.
