联合国-美国周二表示，如果朝鲜进行新的核试验爆炸，美国将推动对朝鲜实施额外制裁。
美国、韩国和日本官员表示，朝鲜可能很快会进行近五年来的首次核试验。
周四，中国和俄罗斯否决了由美国提出的一项联合国决议，该决议将因朝鲜一连串发射可用于运载核弹头的洲际弹道导弹而对朝鲜实施新的严厉制裁。安理会15个成员国的投票结果是13票对2票，这标志着五个拥有否决权的常任理事国在制裁朝鲜的决议上首次出现严重分歧。
美国大使琳达·托马斯·格林菲尔德星期二被问及，如果朝鲜再次进行核试验，美国是否会寻求新的制裁。“我们一定会的，”她说。
2006年朝鲜首次核试验爆炸后，联合国安理会一致通过了10项决议，对朝鲜实施制裁，并在随后的几年里加强了制裁力度。这些决议旨在通过切断朝鲜的收入来源来遏制其核计划和弹道导弹计划，但迄今未能成功。
上周三，朝鲜发射了今年第17轮导弹，这是一次武器试验的升级，专家称，这是领导人金正恩努力扩大该国武器库的一部分，并向其对手施加更多压力，以获得当前制裁和其他让步的缓解。
托马斯-格林菲尔德说，已经实施的制裁需要强制执行。她补充说，如果朝鲜再次试验核武器，“我们肯定会像我们在最后一项决议中所做的那样，推动更多的制裁。”
她被问及上周四投票的时间，因为众所周知，中国和俄罗斯反对新的制裁。他们提出了一项放松对朝鲜制裁的决议，一些美国盟友希望维护安理会的团结。
托马斯-格林菲尔德回答说，美国的决议草案已经讨论和考虑了九周，而朝鲜继续违反安理会决议进行武器试验。
“所以，他们非常清楚地听到，安理会13个成员国强烈谴责他们的所作所为，他们受到俄罗斯和中国否决权的保护，”她说。“但现在他们知道，俄罗斯人和中国人没有得到安理会成员的支持。”
在周四的投票后，法国驻联合国大使尼古拉斯·德里维埃尔说，中国和俄罗斯的否决相当于“保护朝鲜政权，给它一张进一步扩散的空白支票”
他说:“法国将继续努力，确保安理会能够采取行动，并恢复在这个问题上的团结。”
根据4月26日通过的联合国大会决议，这个由193个成员组成的世界机构首次被要求在10个工作日内就引发安理会否决的局势进行辩论。发言者名单上的优先权给予投否决票的常任理事国。
联合国大会发言人库比克(Paulina Kubiak)说，联合国大会将于6月8日就否决朝鲜问题决议举行会议，但她说她无法确认中国或俄罗斯是否会参加。
US to seek new UN sanctions if North Korea holds nuke test
UNITED NATIONS --The United States said Tuesday it will push for additional sanctions on North Korea if it conducts a new nuclear test explosion.
U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials have said North Korea could soon conduct its first nuclear test in nearly five years.
On Thursday, China and Russia vetoed a U.N. resolution sponsored by the United States that would have imposed tough new sanctions on North Korea for a spate of launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles that can be used to deliver nuclear warheads. The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 13-2 and marked a first serious division among the five veto-wielding permanent members over a North Korea sanctions resolution.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield was asked Tuesday whether the U.S. would seek new sanctions if the North conducted another nuclear test. “We absolutely will,” she said.
A united Security Council imposed sanctions after North Korea’s first nuclear test explosion in 2006 and tightened them over the years in a total of 10 resolutions seeking — so far unsuccessfully — to rein in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs by cutting its sources of revenue.
Last Wednesday, North Korea launched its 17th round of missiles this year, an escalation of weapons tests that experts have said is part of leader Kim Jong Un’s efforts to expand the country’s arsenal and apply more pressure on its rivals to obtain relief from current sanctions and other concessions.
Thomas-Greenfield said the sanctions already in place need to be enforced. And if North Korea tests another nuclear weapon, she added, “We certainly, as we attempted in this last resolution, will push for additional sanctions.”
She was asked about the timing of last Thursday’s vote, since China and Russia’s opposition to new sanctions was well known. They had proposed a resolution easing sanctions on North Korea, and some U.S. allies wanted to try to preserve council unity.
Thomas-Greenfield replied that the U.S. draft resolution had been discussed and considered for nine weeks while North Korea continued to test weapons in violation of Security Council resolutions.
“So, they heard very loudly and clearly that 13 members of the council stand strong in condemning what they are doing and they’re being protected by the Russians and the Chinese veto,” she said. “But now they know that the Russians and the Chinese have not been supported by the members of the council.”
After Thursday’s vote, France’s U.N. ambassador, Nicolas de Riviere, said the Chinese and Russia vetoes amounted “to protecting the North Korean regime and giving it a blank check to proliferate even further.”
“France will continue its efforts to ensure that the council is able to act and that it regains the unity it has had on this issue,” he said.
Under a U.N. General Assembly resolution adopted April 26, the 193-member world body is required for the first time to hold a debate on the situation that sparks a veto in the Security Council within 10 working days. Precedence on the list of speakers is given to the permanent member or members casting the veto.
General Assembly spokesperson Paulina Kubiak said the assembly will hold a meeting on the veto of the North Korea resolution on June 8, but she said she wasn’t in a position to confirm whether China or Russia would participate.
