White House: US may confront ships near NKorea

Jun 12, 2:38 PM (ET)

By CHARLES BABINGTON

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration said Friday that it is prepared to confront ships believed to be carrying contraband materials to North Korea but will not try to forcibly board them.

White House officials said they expect North Korea will act "irresponsibly" to newly imposed sanctions in response to the rogue nation's recent nuclear tests. The U.N. Security Council on Friday imposed sanctions that included expanding an arms embargo and authorizing ship searches on the high seas.

Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said U.S. officials would seek permission to board and inspect ships believed to be carrying contraband to North Korea. Such ships would be directed to a nearby port for inspection if they could not be boarded at sea, she told reporters at the White House.

Rice said the U.S. would not be surprised if North Korea reacted to the sanctions with "further provocation."

"There's reason to believe they may respond in an irresponsible fashion to this," she said. But she said she expects the sanctions to have significant impact on North Korea's financing of its weapons and missile systems.

Rice said the administration was "very pleased" with the sanctions. She called the new resolution, which was supported by China and Russia, an "unprecedented" position by the Security Council.

The United States and many other nations, including China and Russia, have condemned Pyongyang for its underground nuclear test on May 25 and a series of ground-to-air missile test firings.

Rice said that Iran - another nation at deep odds with the United States about a disputed nuclear program - should take a message from how the U.N. responded to North Korea's actions.

"I imagine that they have been following this closely," Rice said of Iran's leaders. She said Iran should see that "the response from the international community has been very clear, very firm and very meaningful."