U.N. looks set for deal on resolution against N. Korea
Yonhap
06/09/2009
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL -- The United Nations Security Council is expected to hammer out a compromise on a new resolution to punish North Korea's latest nuclear test within a few days, South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator said Tuesday as he headed to China for discussions on the next step.
"I think the resolution will be issued tomorrow or the day after tomorrow," Wi Sung-lac told reporters shortly before flying to Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei. Wu chairs the six-way talks on the North's nuclear program also involving the U.S., Japan, and Russia.
The U.S. and Japan, with South Korea's support, drafted a tough resolution calling for financial sanctions on Pyongyang, an arms trade embargo, and the inspection of North Korea's air and sea shipments of suspicious cargo. The envisioned resolution, if approved, will pave the way for tougher measures against the North than those in Resolution 1718, adopted after the North's first known underground nuclear blast in 2006.
But China, the North's traditional ally and a veto-wielding member of the council, is reportedly opposed to pushing the North too hard out of fear that it may destabilize the impoverished neighbor.
After two weeks of diplomatic wrangling in the U.N. over the level of punishment, Chinese officials are reviewing a final draft of the resolution, and the other members of the council are waiting for their response, according to U.N. sources.
Wi said a protracted dispute may undermine the authority of the resolution if issued. "Timing matters," he said. "But it seems that differences are being narrowed, with only minor, last-minute coordination of opinions left."
The resolution is aimed at exchanging views on the current situation and discussing how to deal with North Korea, which has been churning out belligerent words and actions, including reported preparations for additional missile launches, he said on his two-day trip to Beijing.
Wi said he will talk with Wu on Wednesday in what would be their first meeting since March, and he is also pushing for a meeting with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.
"It would be meaningful to have discussions with China, which is a key player in the six-way talks and also the chair of the talks, on the current situation," he said.
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N. Korea vows to fight U.S. with 'willpower'
Yonhap
06/09/2009
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL -- North Korea urged its people Tuesday to be armed with willpower against the United States and warned not to depend on allied nations, as the country faces new international sanctions for its recent nuclear test.
The full-page editorial by the Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper published by the Workers Party of Korea, apparently pointed to China, which has rebuked the May 25 nuclear explosion and is now working on a punitive resolution with the U.N. Security Council.
"We will win when we fight the (U.S.) imperialists to the end, and there will be only shame and disgrace if we surrender," the paper said. "The confrontation with the imperialists is a war of willpower."
The U.N. council is expected to produce the resolution within days, with China now reviewing a final draft. The envisioned resolution, first drafted by the U.S. and Japan and with South Korea's support, calls for financial sanctions on Pyongyang, an arms trade embargo and the inspection of North Korea's air and sea shipments of suspicious cargo, sharper in intensity than an earlier resolution adopted after the North's first nuclear test in 2006.
South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, Wi So'ng-rak, flew to Beijing earlier Thursday to discuss the sanctions with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei.
The Rodong Sinmun revealed North Korea's growing disillusionment with U.S. President Barack Obama, who warned of strong sanctions for Pyongyang's nuclear test and said he is "not intending to continue a policy of rewarding provocation."
"The current U.S. administration is making sweet sounds in people's ears, clamoring for change and multilateral cooperative diplomacy, but its real intention is no different from its predecessor" George W. Bush, the paper said.
Such words of engagement are only "hypocrisy" to instill an illusion into and disarm the North Koreans, it said.
In an apparent note on the decades of diplomatic isolation and financial and trade sanctions North Korea has faced, the paper blamed the U.S. policy toward it as "a fear strategy" and a "strangle-and-kill strategy."
"With the fear strategy, the imperialists are trying to dispirit and frighten our people and make us back off from our anti-imperialist, self-reliance principle," it said.
The U.S. also intends to "strangle, pressure and slowly destroy" the North with decades of political and economic sanctions and military threats, it said.
North Korea does not expect help even from allied nations, the paper said.
"In the world today, there's no country that can stand up for us in our anti-imperialism struggle and no country would help as if it's their own," it said.
"In any case, we cannot depend on others with hopes of international friendship or solidarity," it added.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said the editorial is internal propaganda, with sanctions certain to make the lives of North Koreans harder.
North Korea has consistently accused the U.S. of trying to invade it, saying routine military exercises with South Korea are a rehearsal for war. The two Koreas remain technically at war, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice and was never replaced by a peace treaty.
"The North is saying its relations with the U.S. have no other way but confrontation for a long time, and it's telling its people to be prepared, armed with strong will to resist," Yang said.
Russia source says North Korea readying launches
Reuters
06/09/2009
MOSCOW -- A Russian Foreign Ministry source on Tuesday said there were signs that North Korea was preparing new missile launches, Interfax news agency reported.
After a nuclear test in May, Pyongyang conducted missile launches. South Korea said the North was preparing to test a long-range missile capable of reaching U.S. territory and mid-range missiles that could strike South Korea or Japan.
"Information is coming to us that there are signs of preparations for the launch of missiles," the unnamed Russian source was quoted as saying.
The diplomat said North Korea's temporary ban on navigation in certain areas of the Yellow and Japan Seas was an indication it was preparing to conduct a missile test, Interfax reported.
The source did not clarify what type of launch was anticipated.
Russian authorities regularly release information to local news agencies via unnamed foreign ministry officials.
Pentagon launches task force for N. Korean provocations
Yonhap
06/08/2009
The spokesman was discussing North Korea's recent nuclear and missile tests and threats to boycott six-party talks on ending its nuclear weapons programs, as well as its announcement that is terminating the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, citing the hostile stance of the U.S. and the international community.
Morrell said that nothing specific had been discussed at a trilateral meeting between Gates and his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Singapore last week over "additional defensive measures" should the North refuse to abandon its nuclear program.
"And the truth is, he did not have anything specifically in mind," he said, adding that Washington still focuses on diplomacy.
"Obviously, we never take anything off the table in terms of what our options are should the North not be dissuaded from pursuing a nuclear-weapons capability, but that's not where our focus is right now," he said. "The focus is on working with the U.N."
The U.N. Security Council has been trying to come up with a resolution to punish North Korea for its nuclear test for two weeks amid continued reluctance by China and Russia to impose an overall arms embargo and financial sanctions. The North's staunchest allies, both Moscow and Beijing are hesitant to undermine any possibility that Pyongyang will return to stalled six-party talks.
At issue is how to exclude humanitarian and normal financial transactions from U.N. sanctions and to avoid a breach with international law, which stipulates that all cargo inspections first be approved by the country of the flag carried by the vessel.
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