PhotoSEOUL, South Korea — The United States and South Korea vowed on Tuesday to push for the “strongest possible” resolution at the United Nations Security Council, including new sanctions and the removal of existing loopholes, to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test. It was also intended to help counter calls among nationalist politicians and scholars here who contend that the South must arm itself with nuclear weapons. North Korea was still able to buy oil and sell its coal and iron ore, as long as it was not used to finance the country’s nuclear weapons program — an activity that would be difficult to prove. North Korea is also accused of running fronts based in China or using Chinese middlemen to circumvent the sanctions. Washington and Seoul said on Tuesday that they would also try to enforce new bilateral sanctions against North Korea.

Source: New York Times September 13, 2016 08:26 UTC