U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Monday praised the U.N. Security Council for unanimously supporting sanctions on North Korea, noting that Pyongyang’s recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests pushed the Security Council to act.
“At the end of the day, what we had to show them was, look how many more ICBM tests do we need to see before we do something?” Haley said during an interview with Fox News.
Haley argued that the sanctions, which target the nation’s major exports such as coal and iron, will help curb North Korea’s nuclear program by decreasing the government’s revenue.
“And the fact that every dollar of revenue the North Korea government gets, they’re not feeding their people with it,” Haley explained.
{mosads}“They’re using it towards the nuclear weapons system and so we had to do it. And so going after the sanctions, is going after their ability to build these missiles.”
The U.N. sanctions vote also came several days after President Trump signed legislation into law slapping new sanctions on Pyongyang.
Haley, who has repeatedly said that the time for talk on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions is over, in the Monday interview also noted the strength of the unanimous vote from the U.N. Security Council.
“Now they see the international community standing with one voice,” she said, referring to Pyongyang.
“China didn’t pull off, Russia didn’t pull off. And all of the Security Council and the international community said: ‘That’s enough. You’ve got to stop it. It’s reckless. It’s irresponsible.’
“And the international community really laid down the groundwork of saying, ‘We’re not going to watch you do this anymore.’ ”
Officials in the Trump administration, which has been working to urge China to pressure North Korea over its nuclear program, have recently talked tough on North Korea and expressed that their patience is wearing thin.