UN vote on North Korea delayed to weekend

Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations and current Security Council President Kenzo Oshima. Picture / Reuters

UNITED NATIONS - A US drive to impose tough UN sanctions on North Korea for its reported nuclear explosion was delayed to Saturday at the earliest after China balked at some measures sought against the reclusive state.

China and Russia managed to get some changes in a text the United States had wanted to put to a vote in the UN Security Council on Friday on a package of economic and arms sanctions.

Japan's UN Ambassador Kenzo Oshima, the current council president, told reporters he hoped for a vote on Saturday on a revised text, the third this week, which would be distributed later on Thursday for governments to analyse.

"I think we are almost there and most likely, if we are lucky ... for a vote most likely Saturday," Oshima told reporters after a meeting he attended with the five permanent council members with veto power - the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin also was optimistic, telling reporters, "There have been a number of changes, a number of improvements. I think that the unity of the Security Council at this stage ... is in good shape."

In Washington, a US official said that in the talks between US President George W. Bush and former Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan there was agreement that "strong measures" were needed against North Korea, which has had strong political and economic support from Beijing.

J.D. Crouch, White House deputy national security adviser, said there was broad understanding with China over the way forward but acknowledged the "possibility for some differences" over the specifics of the resolution.

The announcement from Pyongyang on Monday that it had carried out a nuclear weapons test prompted stiff Chinese and Russian condemnation that encouraged US hopes for a united response from the big powers at the United Nations.

US Ambassador John Bolton, who introduced a sanctions resolution to the Security Council, said: "I think that the council should try to respond to a nuclear test within the same week that the test occurred."

But Beijing seemed to back away from some key points in the resolution.

China's reservations

China's UN Ambassador Wang Guangya had wanted to limit the scope of financial sanctions and scrap travel restrictions, participants in a closed-door council meeting reported.

China and Russia also raised objections to a controversial provision in the US draft, co-sponsored by Security Council members Japan, Britain, France and Slovakia, that authorizes the inspection of cargo going in and out of North Korea to detect ballistic missiles or nuclear materials.

The resolution also includes an arms embargo, a ban on any transfer or development of weapons of mass destruction as well as a ban on the sale of luxury goods to North Korea.

The leaders of China and South Korea will meet in Beijing on Friday to seek a response to Pyongyang's nuclear defiance.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Chinese President Hu Jintao have seen their policies of engagement with the North shaken by Pyongyang's announced test.

Beijing and Seoul are increasingly frustrated at their inability to influence their impoverished neighbour despite their economic and political clout.

"It has become more difficult than ever for China and South Korea to influence the North so that it doesn't worsen the situation," said one Seoul government official.

North Korea continued its belligerent tone Thursday, threatening Japan with "strong countermeasures" if it went ahead with tougher bilateral sanctions as expected Friday.

"We will take strong countermeasures," said Song Il-ho, North Korean ambassador in charge of diplomatic normalization talks with Japan, according to a report by Japan's Kyodo news agency from Pyongyang. "We never speak empty words," he said.

Both Russia and China are anxious to avoid driving North Korea -- with its 1.2-million-strong army -- further into a corner, possibly triggering instability on the Korean peninsula, which has been divided for more than half a century.

Japan, arguing that Pyongyang's nuclear weapons pose a direct threat to its safety, is expected to formally approve additional bilateral sanctions Friday, including banning imports from the communist state and blocking North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports.

There has so far been no independent confirmation that Monday's explosion was in fact the result of a nuclear device. Some have speculated that even if it was, it might not have been as successful as Pyongyang said it was.

North Korea has brandished the threat of more tests, calling US pressure to rein in its nuclear program tantamount to a "declaration of war."

- REUTERS