UN slaps sanctions on NKorean firms over missile

NUKEWARS

US calls on NKorea to release journalists
The United States reiterated its call Friday for the release of two detained US journalists, following reports that the two women would stand trial for unspecified crimes. "We continue to call on the North Koreans to release the two Americans so they can be returned to their families," State Department acting spokesman Robert Wood told reporters. "We're working it quietly through diplomatic channels to do as much as we can." He said the United States was "still trying to get confirmation" about the trial, reported earlier by the official Korean Central News Agency. Washington has no diplomatic ties with Pyongyang and the Swedish embassy is representing its interests. But the Swedish ambassador has not had contact with the two journalists -- Euna Lee, a Korean-American, and Laura Ling, a Chinese-American -- since March 30, Wood said. "They are being denied access," a senior State Department official said. The Swedes have "not been able to get the access that we would all like to have," he added. But the two journalists were being provided with toiletries and medications. "There's no indication that they're not being treated well," the official said. The pair, who work for Current TV in California, were detained before dawn on March 17 along the narrow Tumen River, which marks the border with China. They had been working on a story about refugees fleeing the hardline communist North.

Obama, Japan PM discuss NKorea: officials
US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso in a telephone talk Friday discussed North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons threat, officials in Tokyo said. Obama in the 15-minute conversation also agreed to visit Tokyo in the second half of the year, a plan welcomed by Aso, the Japanese foreign ministry said in a statement. "President Obama told (Aso) that he highly praised the close cooperation between the United States and Japan over the missile launch by North Korea, and that he would like to continue the close cooperation," the statement said. "Prime Minister Aso replied that it was good for the United Nations Security Council to jointly send a strong statement without delay" against North Korea's recent rocket launch, the statement said. The two leaders agreed to work together for a resumption of the stalled six-way talks aimed at denuclearising Pyongyang, it said. The talks also include China, Russia and the two Koreas. Tensions remain high over North Korea's April 5 launch, which the United States and its allies say was a long-range ballistic missile test disguised as a satellite launch. Last week, Pyongyang announced it was quitting the six-nation talks on nuclear disarmament and would restart nuclear facilities in protest at the UN Security Council statement. During the telephone conversation, Aso also voiced his support for Obama's recent call for global nuclear disarmament, the statement said.

by Staff Writers
United Nations (AFP) April 24, 2009
The United Nations slapped sanctions Friday on three North Korean firms accused of backing missile development, in the first concrete action against Pyongyang over its April 5 rocket launch.

A committee agreed on the sanctions after the Security Council condemned North Korea for its launch -- a statement that had so incensed the communist state that it stormed out of a six-nation denuclearization agreement.

Turkish Ambassador Baki Ilkin, who heads the committee, told reporters the three companies added to the blacklist were the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation, Korea Ryonbong General Corporation and Tanchon Commercial Bank.

Korea Mining is considered a "primary arms dealer and main exporter of goods and equipment related to ballistic missiles and conventional weapons," according to a Security Council document obtained by AFP.

Korea Ryonbong is a "defense conglomerate specializing in acquisition for DPRK defense industries and support to that country's military-related sales," it said, using the North's official name of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Tanchon Commercial Bank is North Korea's main financial entity handling sales of conventional arms, ballistic missiles and related goods, it said.

North Korea said its April 5 launch put into orbit a satellite that is broadcasting patriotic songs from the communist dynasty.

But no other nation has confirmed a satellite in orbit. The United States and its allies say that North Korea fired a rocket over Japan as part of its program to develop long-range ballistic missiles that could conceivably hit the United States in the future.

Backed by the United States and its European allies, Japan had pressed the United Nations to impose a resolution, which is legally binding.

But Japan and the United States instead accepted a Security Council statement, which carries less weight, in order to bring on board veto-wielding China and Russia which urged restraint.

That statement activated the sanctions committee, which was approved in 2006 under a UN Security Council resolution forbidding North Korea from long-range ballistic missile tests.

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NUKEWARS

NKorea won't return to nuke talks yet: Russian minister

Seoul (AFP) April 24, 2009
North Korea does not yet intend to return to six-nation nuclear disarmament talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday after a visit to Pyongyang.

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