China: N. Korea Faces 'Punitive Actions'

Chinese soldiers wait in bushes on the banks of a creek which marks the border with North Korea, near the Chinese city of Dandong Tuesday Oct. 10, 2006. The soldiers were on a work detail building a fence on the creek bank. China, North Korea's main source of food and fuel aid, said Tuesday that the North's nuclear test would negatively affect ties between the countries, the latest evidence of Beijing's anger at its neighbor and once-close ally for staging the test-explosion Monday despite China's objections. (AP Photo/Greg Baker) (Greg Baker - AP)

UNITED NATIONS -- North Korea must face "some punitive actions" for testing a nuclear device, China's U.N. ambassador said Monday, suggesting that Beijing may be willing to impose some form of Security Council sanctions against Pyongyang.

China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters that the council must give a "firm, constructive, appropriate but prudent response" to North Korea.

"I think there has to be some punitive actions but also I think these actions have to be appropriate," he said.