The United Nations Security Council voted Saturday to impose sanctions on North Korea, saying its nuclear test posed "a clear threat to international peace and security."

The unanimous vote comes a day after the United States and its allies reached a compromise resolution with Russia and China.

John Bolton, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, compared the North Korean ambassador's decision to walk out with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev pounding his shoe on the table to emphasize a point during a UN debate in 1960.
(Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press)

The resolution demands North Korea eliminate all its nuclear weapons, but rules out military action, which the Russians and the Chinese would not consider.

The sanctions tighten the economic noose around the impoverished and secretive Communist state by limiting the embargo to major hardware such as tanks, warships, combat aircraft and missiles. It bans the import or export of material and equipment that could be used to make nuclear weapons or ballistic missiles.

Other countries would be able to inspect cargo leaving from or arriving in North Korea to prevent illegal trafficking of such material.

U.S. President George W. Bush said Saturday that the Security Council had sent a firm message to North Korea that its test was unacceptable to the world.

"This action by the United Nations, which was swift and tough, says that we are united in our determination to see to it that the Korean peninsula is nuclear-weapons free," Bush said.

He emphasized that North Korea still had a chance for "a better way forward" and promised assistance to the impoverished country from the United States and others if it verifiably ends its nuclear weapons program.

The empty chair

North Korea's UN Ambassador Pak Gil Yon said the vote shows the Security Council has "completely lost its impartiality" and that his country "totally rejects" the resolution.

He said North Korea "successfully conducted an underground nuclear test on Oct. 9" in response to the "hostile policies" of the United States.

Pyongyang's representative immediately left the council chamber after his speech, prompting U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton to point to his empty chair.

"That was the equivalent of [Soviet leader Nikita] Khrushchev pounding his shoe on the table" to emphasize a point at a UN debate in 1960, Bolton said.

The five permanent council members — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France — met Saturday morning with Japan before the full 15-member council convened to discuss the proposed compromise.

While diplomats worked out the final details, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was preparing a trip to Japan, South Korea and China. She will travel to Tokyo on Tuesday before heading to Seoul and Beijing.

"North Korea needs to understand that this is indeed a very, very costly decision that will leave North Korea far worse off and far more isolated than ever before," said Christopher Hill, an aide to Rice, speaking in Washington on Friday.

Meanwhile, preliminary U.S. tests on air samples taken over North Korea found radioactive debris, backing North Korea's claim that it had exploded a nuclear device last weekend, according to a draft report distributed to members of U.S. Congress late Friday.

The U.S. cautioned that a final analysis of the tests could take several days.

The Chinese and Japanese governments have done their own air sampling and found no trace of radioactive material, officials from both countries said Friday.

With files from the Associated Press