Major powers agree on resolution to sanction N. Korea for nuke test
Yonhap
06/11/2009
WASHINGTON -- An agreement has been reached among five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council on a draft resolution to sanction North Korea for its recent nuclear test, diplomats said Wednesday.
"The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the U.S., Britain, France, China and Russia, and South Korea and Japan -- have agreed on a draft resolution on North Korea's second nuclear test," a diplomat said, requesting anonymity. "The draft has been circulated to all the 15 members of the security council and we expect it to be put to a vote Friday."
Another diplomat predicted that the draft will be approved at a plenary session of the council Friday despite possible objections from Vietnam and Libya, which have shown sympathy to North Korea, noting the draft needs to get nine votes, including all votes from the five veto-wielding powers, for approval.
China, North Korea's staunchest communist ally, agreed to the U.S.-written draft Tuesday, but the delegation from Russia, another veto power, did not, citing the need to consult with Moscow.
The P-5 plus two, including the five veto-wielding permanent council members and South Korea and Japan, have met several times since the North's May 25 nuclear detonation, the second of its kind. However, they had failed to narrow differences over the level of sanctions, although they agreed on the need to adopt a legally binding resolution against the North.
Susan Rice, the U.S. permanent representative to the U.N., told reporters, "We tabled a draft resolution to be considered by all colleagues on the Security Council which we think provides a very strong, very credible, very appropriate response to the provocative nuclear test that North Korea launched and its subsequent activities."
The 35-point draft resolution bans any further nuclear and ballistic missile tests and calls for overall arms embargoes and financial sanctions on North Korea.
Rice said she is confident that China will enforce the resolution if adopted.
China has insisted on changing the word "decide" to "call on" in the draft, triggering debates on whether the words are legally binding.
"It also makes it clear in a binding requirement that any state that refuses to submit to a consensual inspection on the high seas must be directed by its flag state to proceed to port for mandatory inspection," Rice said. "So there is a mandatory end-state in this process that I've described."
China has demanded any inspections be made within the framework of existing international law, which prohibits cargo interdictions in international waters unless approved by the country of the flag carried by the vessel.
The draft will "impose a complete embargo on the export of arms from North Korea," she said. "It substantially broadens the ban on the import of weapons to North Korea and requires that any remaining light weapons or small arms and related material that may be imported be notified in advance, fully transparently, to the sanctions committee."
On the financial sanctions, she said the draft aims to "prevent the flow of funds internationally that could in any way, shape or form benefit North Korea's missile, nuclear or proliferation activities."
U.N. member states are also advised to reduce or refrain from providing any further financial aid to North Korea unless the aid is related to humanitarian activity.
The enhanced financial sanctions by the U.N. come as Washington considers pursuing its own financial sanctions against North Korea.
Washington slapped financial sanctions on a Macau bank in 2005 to freeze US$25 million worth of North Korean assets, effectively cutting off Pyongyang's access to the international financial system. Banco Delta Asia had been accused of helping North Korea launder money from circulating sophisticated counterfeit US$100 bills called "supernotes."
It is not clear whether the sanctions will deter the North from further provocations, with some saying Pyongyang will eventually return to bilateral or multilateral negotiations and others voicing pessimism about Pyongyang's willingness to abandon its nuclear arsenal.
China plays a key role, as North Korea is heavily dependent on its communist neighbor for energy, food and other necessities. Beijing demanded any sanctions be conducive to coaxing the reclusive North to return to the multilateral nuclear disarmament talks.
Walter Lohman, director of The Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center, is pessimistic about the resolution's enforcement.
"It calls on, but doesn't require, member states to impose expanded financial sanctions, to cover export credits, grants, assistance, and concessional loans," he said. "And it is all done under Chapter VII, Article 41 of the U.N. Charter, which excludes the use of force -- a contentious issue in previous rounds of Security Council talks and a key problem with enforcing the October 2006 resolution."
Lohman was discussing Resolution 1718 and others adopted after North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile tests in the past years that have largely been disregarded by China, which does not interpret them as mandatory.
Peter Beck, adjunct professor at Underwood International School, echoed Lohman's theme.
"China is not doing enough," Beck said. "There's no tangible, no concrete action taken by China other than some strong words."
North Korea's recent provocations, including nuclear and missile tests, are widely seen as an attempt by ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il [Kim Cho'ng-il] to help his third and youngest son, Jong-un, consolidate power in an unprecedented third-generation dynastic power transfer in the reclusive communist state.
Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu, says China has a limited influence on North Korea, which appears to be determined to go nuclear.
"Although China is an irreplaceable supplier of vital commodities, such as food and energy, to North Korea, ultimately Pyongyang will not allow China to dictate policies that undermine the regime's perceived vital interests," he said. "China also fears pushing too hard, as this might either forfeit all Chinese influence or cause a collapse of the regime. So in this sense China's influence is limited -- largely self-limited."
"Nothing has changed. The game is still about enforcement, and it's about China's unused bilateral leverage," he said. "They still value stability and a perpetually divided peninsula over the threat of a nuclear North Korea. The Chinese and Russian prevented a tougher resolution, and will continue to prevent effective enforcement of this one. And that will be the problem. Like the others, it will be ignored."
North Korea Works With Burma to Develop Uranium Enrichment Technology
Kungmin Ilbo in Korean
06/10/2009
By An U'i-ku'n
Following the two tests of plutonium nuclear bombs, it has been reported that North Korea has set in full motion the development of uranium enrichment technology to make uranium nuclear bombs.
"[I] understand that Burmese technical staffs visited North Korea earlier this year, and North Korea also dispatched technicians to Burma," said a source on North Korea on 10 June, "possibly with a view toward cooperating on and sharing centrifuge technology." It has been reported that the Burmese technical staffs were dispatched to a Russian nuclear engineering research institute [where they] acquired uranium enrichment technology.
It has been reported that the US intelligence authorities, strongly concerned about the uranium enrichment technology cooperation between North Korea and Burma, are collecting relevant information.
North Korea already revealed through its 29 April Foreign Ministry statement that "after deciding to build a light-water reactor [LWR] power plant, we will, without delay, begin, as the first process, developing technology to produce and supply nuclear fuel on our own," strongly giving rise to concern over the uranium enrichment. Though an LWR power plant uses as fuel, low-enriched uranium containing 2-3% of uranium-235 while a uranium nuclear bomb uses high-enriched uranium with over 90% or above level of purity, the enrichment techniques [for both cases] are almost identical.
It has been reported that though, aside from plutonium bombs, North Korea has so far attempted to develop a technique to manufacture a bomb from high-enriched uranium through centrifugation, the pace of development has been slow. North Korea has a past history of having received around 20 units of P-1 centrifuges and P-2 designs from Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan of Pakistan and of having imported 150 tonnes of high-strength aluminum from Russia, with which [North Korea] is capable of making around 2,600 units of centrifuges.
The substance of the technology on which North Korea and Burma are trying to cooperate is not specifically known, but it is highly likely to be on the core technology required for uranium enrichment, including the manufacture of turbines that spin centrifuges at high speed.
North Korea and Burma had active personnel exchanges last year, including mutual visits of [North Korean] Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yo'ng-il, Thura Shwe Mann, [Burmese] military chief of staff, and Tin Aye, [Burmese] chief of military logistics headquarter. "There have been a lot of intelligence so far on questionable matters in North Korea-Burma relations," a government official said, "and there is a probability of [nuclear collaboration], though it needs to be further verified."
No Sign of Major North Korea Military Mobilization
AFP
06/11/20009
BRUSSELS -- North Korea is showing no signs of preparing a major troop build-up, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday, describing its routine military stance as a "source of comfort".
"I don't think there has been a commensurate change in the posture of the North Korean military that would suggest an intent to undertake operations," he told reporters travelling with him to NATO talks in Brussels.
"The military operations are pretty routine at this point, so that's a source of comfort."
His remarks came after a US intelligence official warned that North Korea's nuclear test and threat to test ballistic missiles amid concerns over a leadership succession make for "a potentially dangerous mixture".
The assessment comes amid rising US-North Korean tensions following Pyongyang's nuclear test explosion last month, a series of short-range missile launches and the renunciation of the 1953 truce that halted the Korean war.
Despite his cautious optimism, Gates warned that the secretive Stalinist state should be taken seriously.
"It's a very unpredictable regime so it's probably not wise just to dismiss out of hand the rhetoric," he said.
Detained worker a top priority in talks with North
Seoul says issue must be resolved as fate of complex hangs in balance
JoongAng Ilbo
06/11/2009
By Yoo Jee-ho
South Korea’s priority today in its second round of government-level talks with North Korea remains unchanged from the first meeting in April: secure the release of a detained Kaesong Industrial Complex worker.
“The South Korean government has long maintained that this issue must be resolved before anything else, for the sake of the stable development” of the complex, said Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo.
Lee is referring to a South Korean worker who the North has held since March 30 on charges of criticizing the country’s regime and inciting a North Korean female co-worker to defect. Seoul has not been granted access to him.
At the first government-level talks between the countries on April 21, North Korea rejected the South’s request to discuss the worker’s situation.
Instead, Pyongyang officials demanded that Seoul raise wages for North Korean workers in Kaesong and also start paying land fees in 2010, four years earlier than what the existing deal stipulated.
South Korea tried to bring the North back to the table in mid-May but failed. The North then abruptly declared that all existing deals and agreements on the Kaesong complex are invalid.
Today’s talks, to be held in Kaesong, come just three days after a South Korean company decided to halt its Kaesong operations, marking the first time that has happened. Skin Net, which makes fur clothes, cited threats to the safety of its employees as a major reason for the withdrawal from the complex.
The South Korean delegation of 14 will be led by Kim Young-tak, the senior ministry official in charge of inter-Korean talks. Pak Chol-su, vice chief of the bureau that oversees the complex, will head the North Korean delegation of five.
Once regarded as a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation, the Kaesong complex has come under the spotlight amid rising tensions on the peninsula.
N. Korea demands steep wage, rent hikes at joint venture
Yonhap
06/11/2009
SEOUL -- North Korea raised rental fees and demanded more than triple the wages for local employees at a joint park on its soil, a Seoul spokesman said, deepening concerns about doing business at the last remaining inter-Korean venture.
The rare inter-Korean talks ended without a breakthrough on the release of a detained South Korean worker, said Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung. The two sides agreed to meet again on June 19, he said.
"North Korea demanded the two sides reconsider 'special favors' at the Kaesong [Kaeso'ng] industrial park, in line with the changed inter-Korean relations and reality," Chun said in a briefing.
During the talks that lasted for about two hours, Seoul officials pressed for the release of the Hyundai Asan Corp. worker who was detained in the North's border town of Kaesong [Kaeso'ng] in March for criticizing the North's political system. Pyongyang did not respond, sources said.
North Korea demanded that South Korean firms raise their average monthly wages for North Korean workers to US$300 from the current $70~80 and guarantee an annual increase of 10-20 percent from the current 5 percent, Chun said.
Pyongyang also asked Seoul to increase the rent for the joint park to $500 million. The 50-year rent contract was set at $16 million when the park opened in 2004, to be paid by the South Korean developers Hyundai Asan and the state-run Korea Land Corp.
The talks were a follow-up to an April meeting -- the first government-level dialogue in more than a year -- which broke down in less than half an hour, as the two sides could not narrow differences.
The Kaesong [Kaeso'ng] venture, just an hour's drive from Seoul, is the last remaining inter-Korean economic project to come out of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000. The park had grown steadily, and now hosts 106 South Korean firms producing clothing, kitchenware, electronic equipment and other labor-intensive goods. More than 40,000 North Koreans work there.
North Korea's new demands deepened already serious concerns about the joint park, but Ok Sung-seok, chief of Nine Mode Co., a clothing company employing about 300 North Korean workers, said he believes North Korea left room for negotiation by setting a date for more talks. The firms will meet on Friday to state their position.
"North Korea was not saying, 'take it or leave it.' It set up the next talks, and I believe there's room for negotiation, and there will be an agreement that we can accept," Ok said.
A fur clothing company, Skin Net, said this week it will close its factory in the North Korean park by the end of this month, citing the safety of its employees and a decrease in sales.
Kim Young-tak, senior representative for inter-Korean dialogue at the Unification Ministry, led Seoul's 14-member delegation. North Korea's delegation was led by Pak Chol-su, vice chief of the Special District General Bureau, Pyongyang's agency overseeing the joint park.
In the previous meeting, North Korea refused to discuss the detained worker, only identified by his surname Yu, saying an investigation is underway for his "dishonest hostile act" against Pyongyang.
WHO: Swine flu pandemic has begun, 1st in 41 years
Associated Press
06/11/2009
BY Maria Cheng and Frank Jordans
GENEVA -- The World Health Organization told its member nations it was declaring a swine flu pandemic Thursday - the first global flu epidemic in 41 years - as infections climbed in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere.
In a statement sent to member countries, WHO said it decided to raise the pandemic warning level from phase 5 to 6 - its highest alert - after holding an emergency meeting on swine flu with its experts.
The long-awaited pandemic decision is scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly circling the globe. It will trigger drugmakers to speed up production of a swine flu vaccine and prompt governments to devote more money toward efforts to contain the virus.
"At this early stage, the pandemic can be characterized globally as being moderate in severity," WHO said in the statement, urging nations not to close borders or restrict travel and trade. "(We) remain in close dialogue with influenza vaccine manufacturers."
On Wednesday, WHO said 74 countries had reported nearly 27,737 cases of swine flu, including 141 deaths.
The agency has stressed that most cases are mild and require no treatment, but the fear is that a rash of new infections could overwhelm hospitals and health authorities - especially in poorer countries.
Still, about half of the people who have died from swine flu were previously young and healthy - people who are not usually susceptible to flu.
Swine flu is also continuing to spread during the start of summer in the northern hemisphere. Normally, flu viruses disappear with warm weather, but swine flu is proving to be resilient.
The last pandemic - the Hong Kong flu of 1968 - killed about 1 million people. Ordinary flu kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people each year.
Many health experts say WHO's pandemic declaration could have come weeks earlier but the agency became bogged down by politics. In May, several countries urged WHO not to declare a pandemic, fearing it would cause social and economic turmoil.
Despite WHO's hopes, raising the epidemic alert to the highest level will almost certainly spark some panic about spread of swine flu.
Fear has already gripped Argentina, where thousands of people worried about swine flu flooded into hospitals this week, bringing emergency health services in the capital of Buenos Aires to the brink of collapse. Last month, a bus arriving in Argentina from Chile was stoned by people who thought a passenger on it had swine flu. Chile has the most swine flu cases in South America.
In Hong Kong on Thursday, the government ordered all kindergartens and primary schools closed for two weeks after a dozen students tested positive for swine flu - a move that some flu experts would consider an overreaction.
In the United States, where there have been more than 13,000 cases and at least 27 deaths from swine flu, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the move would not change how the U.S. tackled swine flu.
"Our actions in the past month have been as if there was a pandemic in this country," Glen Nowak, a CDC spokesman, said Thursday.
The U.S. government has already taken steps like increasing availability of flu-fighting medicines and authorizing $1 billion for the development of a new vaccine against the novel virus. In addition, new cases seem to be declining in many parts of the country, U.S. health officials say, as North America moves out of its traditional winter flu season.
Still, Osterholm said the declaration was a wake-up call for the world.
"I think a lot of people think we're done with swine flu, but you can't fall asleep at the wheel," he said. "We don't know what's going to happen in the next 6 to 12 months."
