Senior UN aid official cautions Security Council on impact of more sanctions on DPRK

A senior UN aid official on Thursday urged the UN Security Council to "be cautious on the humanitarian impact" of any additional sanctions on the lives of people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) following Pyongyang's recent nuclear and missile tests.

John Ging, the operation director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, made the remarks here at UN Headquarters in New York in response to a press question.

"Those who impose sanctions should be held accountable for the impact and the consequences of those sanctions on the population, on the people," he said, calling for actions that "positively impact on the lives of people."

"If you have over 40 percent of the children stunted, then we need to be very, very careful. There is an accountability attached," said Ging, who visited the DPRK in September 2014.

The UN Security Council had strongly condemned DPRK's latest launch using ballistic missile technology, calling it a serious violation of Security Council resolutions.

Under UN Security Council resolutions, the DPRK is banned from firing any kind of ballistic missile.

The White House said Thursday that U.S. President Barack Obama has signed into law the legislation to impose more stringent sanctions on DPRK, after Pyongyang said it had launched a Kwangmyongsong-4 Earth observation satellite into orbit earlier this month and tested what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb last month.

The legislation requires the Obama administration to sanction anyone involved with DPRK's nuclear program, luxury goods, money laundering and human rights abuses.

The measure also authorizes 10 million U.S. dollars annually over the course of five years for expanding DPRK people's access to media and providing humanitarian assistance to refugees. Enditem