The UN Security Council voted unanimously to impose new sanctions against North Korea on Wednesday. The proposed resolution contains the toughest array of sanctions the isolated country has seen in two decades, as it bans the North from exporting coal and other currency-swap commodities, formulates detailed financial sanctions, prohibits the sales of aviation fuel and arms to the North, and requires all cargo to and from the country to be inspected. 

The harsh penalties will deal a heavy blow to Pyongyang's capacity to further develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. However, due to China's objection, an oil embargo was not written into the proposal. Though the resolution will inevitably affect North Korea's economy, it is not an attempt to paralyze the nation's economic operation and in particular avoids triggering a humanitarian crisis. 

A proposal previously put forward by Washington was indiscriminate, for its ultimate goal was to stifle the North Korean regime. Beijing's effort helped turn the sanctions back to the original purpose of compelling Pyongyang to renounce nuclear weapons. 

But China has explicitly endorsed the UN's tough sanctions on North Korea. The Chinese government has been unwavering in urging the Kim Jong-un administration to abandon nuclear weapons and Chinese society at large has never accepted Pyongyang's willful and arbitrary actions. More and more Chinese people are just plain fed up with the neighboring country's repeated nuclear tests, which also damage China's national interests.

We support the Chinese government in making concerted effort with the international community to impose intense pressure upon North Korea. If the new sanctions lead to other contingencies, we are fully convinced that the Chinese public will side with their government. The latest resolution will bring about unity instead of divergences among Chinese public opinion. 

Nonetheless, Chinese have had no ill will toward North Korea, something which remains unchanged. Instead of expecting sanctions against the North to spoil the foundation of Sino-North Korean relations, we hope that Pyongyang can understand the current predicament is its fault. Beijing is unwilling to see an increasingly secluded North Korea. Our hearts wrench to see the present scenario on the Korean Peninsula. 

Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions will come to a dead end. Its four nuclear tests and satellite launches are far from enough to develop a nuclear deterrent capacity it has desperately been pursuing. Its provocations against Washington and Seoul achieve nothing, but invite more imminent military threat from the world's biggest power and tougher international sanctions. The North is suffering from an ever-worsening national security landscape and its means to gain interests by taking advantage of sophisticated major-power relations are losing efficacy. Pyongyang is unable to transfer the crisis to other countries and it has to pay the heaviest price. 

We fully understand Pyongyang's sense of insecurity when confronted with military pressure from Washington and Seoul and sympathize with its perennial strategic plight. Every country in the world hopes to develop its economy and improve its people's wellbeing. It is believed that North Korea has every wish to become a normal state. 

However, today's dilemma surrounding the nuclear issue cannot change because the international community will never accept Pyongyang's nuclear programs. 

China has all along been the largest donor to the North and withstood huge pressure from the rest of the world in order to reduce the impact of international sanctions upon its people's livelihood. We have tried our best and hope Pyongyang can recognize that the scenario is deteriorating. 

It is conceivable that Pyongyang will roundly rebuke the Security Council's resolution and stage violent protests. It already fired several short-range projectiles into the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula Thursday morning. But we hope it can meticulously assess the pros and cons of developing nuclear capacity and adopt a policy rectification with impressive courage. 

The article is an editorial of the Chinese edition of the Global Times Thursday. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn