美国有线新闻 CNN 联合国就朝鲜试爆氢弹实施制裁

联合国就朝鲜试爆氢弹实施制裁

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0002:34repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser 1 to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. AZUZ: From the Middle East to the Far East. Our next stop is in North Korea, a country under a series of penalties or sanctions for its nuclear program.

The international community wants North Korea to quit developing and testing nuclear weapons and the missiles that could carry them. As it's been moving forward with the program, the United Nations has issued new sanctions on North Korea. The goal: to try to keep the country from being able to pay for nuclear weapons development.

A CNN reporter recently visited the communist nation's capital, to get a sense of whether these penalties are being felt yet.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Something unusual happened while driving around the North Korean capital, we got stuck in traffic.

Even in the last year and a half that I've been coming here, there's a noticeable increase in the number of cars on the streets here in Pyongyang. The North Koreans will say they have more traffic than they ever have before here. And so, even though there are some of the strongest sanctions that have ever been in place against this country, here in the capital city, North Koreans say they're not feeling the impact, at least not yet.

Tough U.N. sanctions intended to stop North Korea from developing dangerous weapons seem to be having little if any effect on life in Pyongyang, at least the parts we're allowed to see.

The sanctions follow this year's satellite launch and claimed H-bomb tests, actions condemned 2 even by North Korea's most powerful friend and trading partner China. Chinese state media says the sanctions will begin to hurt within a year.

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And trying to see for ourselves how —

RIPLEY: A CNN crew in this Chinese border city last month could not independently verify if cargo 3 to North Korea is being inspected as the sanctions require.

A long-time diplomat 4 and former ambassador who now runs the Pyongyang think tank believes sanctions won't hinder North Korea's military or economy.

"We built a socialist 5 country under U.S. sanctions ever since our liberation," says Ri Jong Ryul, "under our beloved comrade Kim Jong-un's need, everyone is working hard." He is ordering more weapons tests, including a recent apparent failed missile launch.

"We assert the U.S. is the real culprit of the aggravated 6 situation in the Korean peninsula," Ri says, referring to eight weeks of U.S. and South Korea military exercises.

"We must defend our supreme 7 leader's dignity, our republic's sovereignty and our people's right to live," he says, "at any cost."

The U.S. calls it a path to further isolation 8 and hardship. North Korea calls it the only way to survive.

Will Ripley, CNN, Pyongyang.