N Korea: UN talks fizzle out

2003-04-10 08:16

New York - A UN security council meeting on the North Korean crisis ended in impasse on Wednesday, with members unable to agree on a common statement and no date set for a resumption of discussions.

"Members of the council expressed their concern and the council will continue to follow up developments. There is nothing else to add," said Aguilar Zinser, the UN ambassador from Mexico, which currently holds the council presidency.

Britain, France and especially the United States were seeking to bring UN pressure to bear on Pyongyang, but the other two permanent Security Council members, China and Russia, argue that such a move would only aggravate an already volatile situation.

The breadth of the divide between the two camps was highlighted by the fact that Beijing and Moscow had both opposed making the issue a subject of Security Council discussions in the first place.

The current crisis has its roots in North Korea's shock announcements last October that it was expelling UN nuclear inspectors and restarting its mothballed nuclear reactor at Yongbyon that can produce weapons grade plutonium.

Since then, Pyongyang has also withdrawn from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has test-launched a missile.

The United States pressed the security council not to give up on finding a solution to the crisis.

State department spokesperson Richard Boucher said at his daily briefing, held at around the same time the council meeting ended in New York, that the talks were "timely and appropriate".

"This is the first in a series of meetings, we would hope, by the security council to take the issue up formally," Boucher said.

"We do believe the council should act to go on record opposing North Korea's nuclear actions and warning against further provocations," he said.

"The council is charged with issues of international security such as this matter.

"We look forward to further discussion in the security council."

Washington believes Pyongyang has one or two nuclear bombs and could make several more within six months if it continued on its present course.

While acknowledging that the security council was unable to issue any common statement on the crisis, the US ambassador to the UN John Negroponte did not rule out UN action in the future.

"It is not just a matter of getting the North to give up its nuclear weapons ambitions. North Korea must also accept a reliable verification regime," Negroponte told reporters after Wednesday's discussions.

"We hope and believe a diplomatic solution is within the realms of possibility, but I think we'll will have to see how things play out," Negroponte said, warning Pyongyang against taking "further escalatory steps".

Pyongyang wants direct talks with the United States and a non-aggression pact, but Washington has rejected the offer saying the crisis should be solved through multilateral channels.

At the same time, Bush and other top US officials have denied they are considering military options to force North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions.

Pyongyang has also warned that it would view any imposition of UN sanctions as an outright "declaration of war."

China, which still has close links with North Korea, insists that the international community must avoid any sudden action that could inflame the situation.

In Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao said it was "not appropriate" for the 15-member Council to discuss the issue at the moment.

"Relevant parties should not take any actions that will lead to the escalation of the situation," Liu said.

North Korea on Wednesday warned Japan to remember it was "within striking distance," in response to heightened calls in Tokyo to contain the Pyongyang regime amid the growing nuclear crisis.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency accused Japan of being emboldened by the US-led invasion of Iraq in its ambition to remilitarise.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was unable to predict what action, if any, the Security Council might take in the future.

"I think the next step is really to get the parties talking and to find a format that will be acceptable to both parties and bring them to the table to talk," Annan said.

The North Korean debate comes as the security council is still nursing the wounds opened by a damaging split over the war in Iraq.

- AFX