UN agency sends North Korea crisis to Security Council

9.00am

PYONGYANG/VIENNA - The governing board of the UN's nuclear watchdog agency has declared North Korea in breach of atomic safeguards, sending the crisis to the UN's highest body, the Security Council.

But the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today said nobody wanted the Security Council to aggravate the crisis by imposing economic sanctions, which North Korea has said would be a declaration of war.

"The message today is we want to make use of the Security Council, to make use of all of the options available to the Security Council to find a diplomatic solution," IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei told a news conference.

"It doesn't mean that we are automatically jumping to sanctions. In fact all members of the board made it clear that it is not the intention to jump to sanctions right now."

But he said the pursuit of a diplomatic solution did not mean "they are foreclosing other options in the future."

The crisis over North Korea's nuclear ambitions erupted in October when Washington said Pyongyang admitted to pursuing a program to enrich uranium. This violated a 1994 accord, under which Pyongyang froze its nuclear program in exchange for two atomic power reactors and economic assistance.

Since December, Pyongyang has expelled the IAEA inspectors, withdrawn from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), restarted a mothballed nuclear complex capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium and threatened to resume missile tests.

The resolution from the IAEA's 35-nation governing board resolution called "upon the DPRK (North Korea) to remedy urgently its non-compliance with its safeguards agreement by taking all steps deemed necessary by the agency."

The resolution also said the board would report North Korea's breach "to the Security Council and General Assembly of the United Nations" but stressed "its desire for a peaceful resolution."

There were 31 votes for the resolution, no votes against and two members absent. Russia and Cuba abstained, diplomats said.

Reacting to the vote, a Russian diplomatic source told Interfax news agency: "(Russia) is worried that taking the North Korean question to the UN Security Council in the near future could further increase tension and obstruct a political solution."

US envoy Richard Williamson, talking to reporters outside the Security Council, welcomed the resolution and said: "We are confident we can resolve this issue diplomatically.

China's UN ambassador Wang Yingfan said Council members would need to consult among themselves to determine the next steps on North Korea. "So it might take some time," he said.

On January 6, the IAEA board voted to give North Korea one last chance to readmit the two UN inspectors it expelled on New Year's Eve. Pyongyang responded by calling the atomic watchdog agency a tool of Washington and ElBaradei the "cat's paw" of the United States.

Just before the IAEA board started meeting, a diplomat from a European member state told Reuters there was broad agreement among board members the crisis should go to the Security Council despite some reservations about possibly provoking North Korea.

Pyongyang has said it would treat economic sanctions from the Security Council as a declaration of war.

"Everyone agrees that at some level the Security Council has to deal with the issue, but the disagreement is about what it should do and whether it is the right time," the envoy said.

Wednesday, North Korea urged Britain to use its special relationship with the United States to convince Washington to enter talks with Pyongyang.

The appeal for British help -- accompanied by a North Korean threat to retaliate against any US attack -- came shortly after the European Union security chief said the EU would send a high-level mission to the isolated communist state soon.

But Britain dismissed the appeal.

"This isn't a bilateral issue between the US and North Korea. It is an issue for the entire international community," Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell told Reuters.

The United States has said it is prepared to talk to North Korea about the nuclear standoff, but not to negotiate.

Pyongyang cranked up the rhetoric against Washington on Wednesday, with the official KCNA news agency calling comments made last week by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "slander," and saying they revealed US intentions to target North Korea after Iraq.

"The Secretary of Defence listed the DPRK as "a terrorist regime." This means that the United States has internally designated the DPRK as the next target of its "anti-terrorism war,"" the agency said.

The European Union's security chief, Javier Solana, whose plan to visit North Korea this week was postponed, predicted an EU mission to Pyongyang discuss the nuclear crisis would come "sooner rather than later."

North Korea's ruling party newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, said: "The US should stop running amok just like a puppy knowing no fear of the tiger."

Herald feature: North Korea