U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is heading to Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo this week to talk about how to enforce the resolution, and additional measures that the countries can take to contain North Korea.

The inspection measure is based on the 2003 U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, or PSI, involving a group of 16 core countries that have agreed to take steps to stop the flow of weapons of mass destruction, including boarding ships for inspections.

U.S. officials portrayed the unanimous vote as a political victory for the United States in bringing together countries that had been reluctant to take a hard line on North Korea—in particular, China and Russia.

It also reflected well on U.S. Ambassador John R. Bolton, who had pushed hard for a swift and tough resolution on North Korea's missile tests in July, and after the nuclear test last week, and managed to get his pet PSI initiative in the resolution.

President Bush described the Security Council resolution as a "clear message" to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that, "The world is united in our opposition to his nuclear weapons plans."

In brief remarks on the South Lawn of the White House, Bush also pledged to help North Korea with its economic recovery if it gave up its nuclear weapons program. "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 Korea Peninsula is nuclear weapons free," he said.

The North Korean ambassador, Pak Gil Yon, told the council that his country "totally rejects the unjustifiable resolution" and denounced the "gangsterlike" behavior of the Security Council for sanctioning North Korea without addressing the threat that it felt the United States posed to the country.

Pak said that North Korea would not "possess even a single nuke when it is no longer exposed to the U.S. threat," but if sanctions are imposed it will "continue to take physical countermeasures, considering it as a declaration of war."

Pak then walked out of the chamber, leading Bolton to suggest to the council that North Korea should be expelled from the United Nations entirely.

---

Contributing: Maura Reynolds in Washington, D.C.