UN NKorea sanctions deal held up by cargo inspection issue

NUKEWARS

SKorea president says no compromise against NKorea threats
President Lee Myung-Bak said Saturday South Korea would not make any compromises in the face of North Korea's nuclear threats and called for Pyongyang to return to six-party disarmament talks. "I hereby make it clear again that there won't be any compromise in issues threatening the lives of the people and national security," Lee said at a speech marking Memorial Day to honour the Korean War dead. North Korea was not only threatening the South but the world's peace and stability by carrying out nuclear tests and launching missiles, he said. "Even at this very moment, the North is ratcheting up the level of threats as we are also stepping up our defence posture, resulting in a trigger-wire confrontation," Lee said. The UN Security Council is considering new sanctions against North Korea after Pyongyang carried out its second nuclear test last month. The North also fired a rocket in April, ostensibly to put a satellite into orbit, but other countries saw it as a disguised long-range missile test. After the UN Security Council censured its April 5 rocket launch, the North announced it was quitting the six-party talks and restarting a programme to make weapons-grade plutonium. It also has defied international criticism of its second nuclear test by firing a volley of short-range missiles and threatening to attack the capitalist South. The North is now said to be preparing to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile as well as several medium-range missiles. "North Korea must keep its promise to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula and come back to the six-party and inter-Korean talks," Lee said. The six-party talks, which include the two Koreas, host China, Japan, the US and Russia, are aimed at scrapping North Korea's nuclear programme in exchange for economic and diplomatic gains. The negotiations deadlocked late last year over a dispute with North Korea over how to verify its disarmament.

by Staff Writers
United Nations (AFP) June 5, 2009
An agreement on broader UN sanctions against North Korea over its recent nuclear test is being held up by differences among seven key powers over tougher cargo inspections and a tighter arms embargo, diplomats said Friday.

They said the disagreement, which also centered on additional financial penalties, means that the proposed sanctions were unlikely to be adopted by the full 15-member UN Security Council before next week.

The Council's five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United Sates -- plus their counterparts from Japan and South Korea have been haggling over an expanded set of sanctions since North Korea's May 25 underground nuclear test.

Envoys of the seven powers met all day Thursday but failed to find common ground on key sticking points.

"At this time, there is no agreement among the seven on a text," France's UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert said Friday.

"We are making good progress," said Japan's UN ambassador Yukio Takasu, "but it is not correct to say there is an agreement. It is unfounded."

In addition to a broader arms embargo and tougher inspections of cargo, the seven powers are considering a freeze on North Korean assets abroad, denial of access to the international banking and financial services, as broadening the list of entities targeted for travel bans or financial sanctions.

Diplomats cited "Chinese reticence" towards tougher high seas cargo inspections to ensure ships are not carrying banned items related to North Korea's nuclear and missile activities.

One diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that one of the difficulties was agreeing on "how far to go in terms of obligations by states and on whether to resort to force in case of non-compliance (by searched vessels) on the high seas."

Last week, envoys of the seven powers reached broad consensus on widening sanctions against Pyongyang and to condemn "in the strongest terms" North Korea's nuclear test, which violated previous Security Council resolutions.

Meanwhile in Beijing, top Chinese and US diplomats on Friday discussed the North Korean nuclear crisis, a US official said, giving no clues on the outcome of the meetings.

US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg met Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi during a one-day stop in the Chinese capital following visits to Japan and Seoul.

The United States, Japan, China, Russia and South Korea have for years been engaged in now-stalled negotiations with North Korea aimed at scrapping Pyongyang's weapons-grade nuclear programs.

However, North Korea launched a long-range missile in April, triggering a rebuke from the UN Security Council. Pyongyang then retaliated by announcing May 25 that it had staged a second nuclear weapons test, following one in 2006.

It also has declared the armistice ending the 1950-53 Korean War was void.

US and South Korean defense officials say there are signs that North Korea is preparing to fire another intercontinental ballistic missile.

Washington has warned North Korea not to fire a long-range missile, saying it would worsen tensions after the communist state's nuclear test.

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NUKEWARS

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