"We are going to enforce the UN Resolution. The UN Resolution is probably the most unifying thing that's been done," Biden told NBC television in his home state of Delaware.

"Look, North Korea is a very destabilizing element in east Asia, everyone realizes that -- the Chinese realize it, the Russians realize it. They've gone further than they've ever gone in joining us on real sanctions against North Korea. And it is important that we make sure those sanctions stick," Biden stressed.

"This is a matter of us now keeping the pressure on."

The US vice president said it was not necessarily possible to determine Pyongyang's motivations, adding, "We can't guess his motivations.

"We just have to deal with the reality that" North Korea "is a serious danger and a threat to the world, and particularly in east Asia," Biden said.

Pyongyang on Saturday vowed to build more nuclear weapons and to start enriching uranium for a new atomic weapons program following the UN Security Council's unanimous vote Friday to impose tougher sanctions for Pyongyang's nuclear test.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, calling North Korea's actions "deeply regrettable," responded that the United States would do "all we can" to halt Pyongyang's nuclear proliferation.

The North, which for years adamantly denied any uranium enrichment plan, said Saturday it would start a new nuclear weapons programme based on enriched uranium, to bolster its nuclear arsenal in protest at new United Nations sanctions.

US claims in 2002 that Pyongyang was running a secret uranium enrichment program, in addition to its admitted plutonium-based operation, led to the collapse of a nuclear disarmament deal.

Six-nation disarmament talks, which started a year later, focused on plutonium and led to the shutdown in 2007 of plants which produced the material.

The North, angry at the Security Council's earlier censure of its April long-range rocket launch, has already said it is restarting the plants.

On Saturday, it announced it would turn all the new plutonium it reprocesses into weapons.

The sanctions resolution agreed to Friday, which does not provide for the use of force, authorizes tougher inspections of suspected shipments of banned items related to nuclear and missile activities.

The North, describing Friday's sanctions resolution as a "vile product" of a US-inspired campaign, said it would never abandon nuclear weapons and would treat any attempt to blockade it as an act of war.

The 15-member Council voted unanimously Friday to slap tougher sanctions on the North to cripple its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Resolution 1874 passed Friday calls on UN member states to expand sanctions imposed after the North's initial nuclear test in October 2006.

It calls for tougher inspections of cargo suspected of containing banned missile- and nuclear-related items, a tighter arms embargo and new targeted financial curbs to choke off revenue for the nuclear and missile sectors.

It also "demands that the DPRK not conduct any further nuclear test or any launch using ballistic missile technology" and abandon all nuclear weapons and programs "in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner."

US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said it would be no surprise if North Korea "reacted to this very tough sanctions regime in a fashion that would be further provocation."

US intelligence officials believe it will respond with a third atomic test, according to sources quoted by US TV networks.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News