At the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton submits the latest copy of a U.S.-drafted resolution meant to punish North Korea for its reported nuclear test.
The United States is now trying to get China to agree to the plan; it hopes to to hold a vote on the resolution Friday.
Ambassador Bolton dismissed North Korea's threats that U.N. sanctions would be a declaration of war, saying that the consensus opinion holds that Pyongyang has hurt its standing with its tests and its public statements.
Of his fellow delegates' attitude about North Korea, Bolton said, "This level of rhetoric really reinforces in their view why the Security Council needs to make a strong response."
The U.S. draft proposes sanctions on luxury goods for North Korea's small elite, as well as travel bans on officials involved in the country's nuclear weapons program.
It would also give more authority to the United States and its allies in the region to board cargo vessels in an effort to stop possible North Korean proliferators and halt shipments of weapons material on the way to the country.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said he thinks the United States needs to open a direct dialogue with North Korea to ease the crisis.
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