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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused North Korea of violating an array of tough sanctions imposed by the council. He warned that "when sanctions are not enforced, the prospects for the successful denuclearization of North Korea are diminished."
Nonetheless, Pompeo told reporters after meeting President Charles Trump's "following up on the prospects for denuclearization" following Singapore's Kim Jong Un. "So do I, as progress is happening, "he added without elaborating.
The Trump administration hopes that one day North Korea will be at the United Nations "not a pariah but a friend," Pompeo said. Aim "it will take full enforcement of sanctions for us to get there" Kim follows through "on his personal commitments" to Trump.
At the summit, Trump and Kim agreed to work towards denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, without describing when and how it would occur.
Follow-up talks between Pompeo and North Korean senior officials in Pyongyang had a rocky start, with North Korea accusing the United States of making "unilateral and gangster-like" demands.
Pompeo stressed Friday that the 15 Security Council nations "are united on the need for a final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea."
Pyongyang for pushing a concept of "denuclearization" that bears no resemblance to the American definition, vowing to pursue nuclear development unless Washington removes its 28,500 troops from South Korea and the nuclear umbrella defending South Korea and Japan.
China, which is North Korea's closest ally and responsible for more than 90 percent of the isolated country's trade, backs North Korea's call for a "phased and synchronous" approach to denuclearization.
Last month, Beijing suggests the Security Council consider suspending or lifting sanctions on North Korea. Russia said Friday it also backs this approach.
Russia's deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, said that Pompeo confirmed the US "will seek the full denuclearization" of North Korea.
"It is necessary that the denuclearization go hand in hand with parallel actions by the international community," Polyansky said. "We are talking about easing sanctions through the UN Security Council, as well as the removal of unilateral US sanctions."
Some exemptions have already taken place.
This week, South Korea received from the United States Security Council committee monitoring North Korea sanctions for communications between the North and South and for some goods for the North including furniture, transport vehicles and a bus.
Pyongyang follows through on Kim's pledge. But Trump has just been playing down expectations of quick results, saying this week there was "no time limit" on getting North Korea to denuclearize.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley, standing beside Pompeo, made clear that Kim Jong A must take action first.
"We continue to reiterate our North Korea response to their promise to denuclearize," Haley said. "We have to see some of the action and the security council is going to hold tight."
As for the broader international community, she said, "we ask you to hold tight as we go forward."
Pompeo said "the scope and scale" of denuclearization "is agreed to" and "the North Koreans understand what that means," though he did not elaborate and sidestepped a question on what the first step should be.
"We need to see Kim do what he promised the world he would do," Pompeo said.
Chinese Ambassador Ma Zhaoxu said that "China is committed to denuclearization" and "to peace and stability on the Peninsula." He added that China will "fully implement" sanctions sanctions, adding that "everyone" else should as well.
Purpose, Pompeo said, North Korea is "illegally smuggling" in refined petroleum products beyond the quota of 500,000 barrels per year under UN sanctions, mainly by ship-to-ship transfers.
US documents sent to the committee by The Associated Press quotes 89 instances between Jan. 1 and May 30 in which North Korean tankers are likely to be refined "illicitly procured" via such transfers.
The US says that they have been supplied with North Korea.
Pompeo said North Korea is also evading sanctions by smuggling coal by sea and across borders, through cybercrime and other criminal activities, and by keeping workers in some countries that he did not name.
These actions are all "generating significant income for the regime and they must be stopped," he said.
Haley criticized "some friends who want to go around the rules," and especially Russia and China for blocking the sanctions of all countries of North Korea immediately.
Moscow and Beijing said they need additional time to investigate the allegations and put on a six-month "hold" on the US request.
"Are they telling us that they want to continue supplying this oil?" Haley asked. "They claim they need more information." "We do not know it's going forward."
Dutch Ambassador Karel Van Oosterom said the Security Council made clear to Pompeo that it wants to see "concrete actions and deeds" from North Korea to denuclearize.
Van Oosterom, who chairs the North Korea sanctions committee, told reporters: "I think it's clear that the progress is in the talks so far, that the commitment is there and the discussions are taking place."
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said North Korea made "a clear commitment to complete denuclearization and, of course, very forcefully at the Singapore summit with President Trump, and we will hold them up to that commitment."
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