Oil sanctions on N. Korea

United Nations: The UN Security Council has unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea for its recent intercontinental ballistic missile test, seeking to limit its access to refined petroleum products and crude oil and its earnings from workers abroad.

The UN resolution seeks to ban nearly 90 per cent of refined petroleum exports to North Korea by capping them at 500,000 barrels a year and, in a last-minute change, demands the repatriation of North Koreans working abroad within 24 months, instead of 12 months as first proposed.

The US-drafted resolution also caps crude oil supplies to North Korea at 4 million barrels a year and commits the Council to further reductions if it were to conduct another nuclear test or launch another ICBM.

"It sends the unambiguous message to Pyongyang that further defiance will invite further punishments and isolation," Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, said after the 15-0 vote.

"The cap on oil would be devastating for North Korea's haulage industry, for North Koreans who use generators at home or for productive activities, and for (state-owned enterprises) that do the same," said Peter Ward, a columnist for NK News, a website that tracks North Korea.

The forced repatriation of its overseas workers would also cut off vital sources of foreign currency, he said.

In a bid to further choke North Korea's external sources of funding, the resolution seeks to ban the country's exports of food products, machinery, electrical equipment, earth and stone, wood and vessels.