The United Nations Security Council appears close to passing a new set of comprehensive sanctions against North Korea in response to the latter’s nuclear and missile tests earlier this year. With the crucial support of China, the proposed sanctions represent a significant extension of existing sanctions. They include mandatory inspections of cargo shipments entering and leaving North Korea, the prohibition of sales of all conventional weapons to the country – including small arms – and a ban on North Korean exports of coal, iron ore, gold and other mineral products if they can be linked to the DPRK’s weapons programs, plus a ban on sales of jet fuel to the country.

As the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power has argued, the sanctions will “break new ground and represent the strongest set of sanctions imposed by the Security Council in more than two decades.”