Sanctioned!

China and Russia have agreed to support an American-Japanese draft resolution that’s been placed before United Nations Security Council that would limit loans and money transfers to North Korea as punishment for its recent nuclear tests and missile launches.

The resolution would also allow the “interdiction” (editor’s note: ooooh!) of ships suspected of carrying nuclear-related materials.

“Interdiction …” now you know people are gettin’ serious.

From Bloomberg:

Tensions have remained high since North Korea detonated a nuclear device on May 25, said the 1953 armistice ending the Korean War no longer applies and tested several missiles in a show of defiance. South Korea has deployed a combat ship to its maritime border with the North and vowed last week to send F-15K fighter jets in the event of a clash.

North Korea fired six short-range missiles last month, two within hours of the atomic test, three more the following day and one on May 29.

The communist nation may be readying as many as three medium-range missiles in a region northeast of the capital, Pyongyang, South Korea’s Yonhap News reported June 2. There are signs the North may also be taking steps to test-fire its second longer-range, ballistic missile since April, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said June 1.

Interesting. Just two days before offering that assessment, Gates opined that “nobody in the [Obama] administration thinks there is a crisis” in North Korea.

How’s that quote looking now, bo-bo?

In addition to flexing its nuclear muscle (which we went with because it sounded better than “missile muscle”), North Korea earlier this week sentenced a pair of reporters from Al Gore’s news network, Current TV, to twelve years hard labor in a work camp.

Clearly, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il is spoiling for a fight.

America currently has 30,000 troops on the suddenly red hot Korean peninsula, in case you were wondering.