Obama OKs new sanctions against NKorea for nuclear program

South Korea on Friday welcomed stringent new United States sanctions against North Korea, anticipating it will help curb Pyongyang’s provocative behaviuor.

President Barack Obama has signed legislation imposing new sanctions against North Korea for refusing to stop its nuclear weapons program.

The sanctions bill calls for imposing mandatory sanctions on those assisting Pyongyang due to its nuclear and missile programmes, cyber-attacks, human rights abuses and imports of luxury goods.

The US official, and two other sources with knowledge of the issue, said they are less concerned about the function of the satellite than with the technology involved in launching it. They added that the launch was clearly meant to demonstrate North Korea’s ability to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Since the launch of the Kwangmyongson-4 satellite, which was viewed by many as a test of banned missile technology, the US and South Korea have been discussing how best to respond.

The new steps are among a set of punitive measures the government announced February 10 to cut flows of money, people and products to North Korea.

The morning after that launch, Mr Obama said: “This is an authoritarian regime”.

The UN Security Council had strongly condemned DPRK’s latest launch using ballistic missile technology, calling it a serious violation of Security Council resolutions.

North Korea launched a cyberattack against South Korea in July 2009, two months after its second nuclear test. It also hacked South Korean media organizations in March 2013, a month after its third nuclear test. Analysts say Kim Jong-un is looking to appear powerful before his important Seventh Party Congress in May.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers, many of whom argue Obama hasn’t been tough enough with North Korea, overwhelmingly approved the bill last week and sent it to the White House. “We expect it to provide a platform for the USA to take strong and effective measures [against North Korea]”, said South Korea’s foreign ministry in a statement.

The U.S. has also opened talks with South Korea about developing more missile-defense systems to eliminate the possibility that a North Korean missile could reach U.S. facilities.