A disappointed U.S. envoy Christopher Hill said Thursday the U.N. Security Council now has the final power to handle challenges being posed by North Korea after it menacingly test-launched ballistic missiles.
"The Chinese are as baffled as we are," Hill told reporters before returning home later in the day. "China has done so much for that country and that country seems intent on taking all of China's generosity and then giving nothing back."
Hill openly expressed dismay over China's failure to persuade North Korea to rejoin the six-way talks on its nuclear weapons program that have been stalled since November. The negotiations also involve South Korea, Japan and Russia.
The U.S. assistant secretary of state in charge of East Asian and Pacific affairs flew to Asia right after North Korea, ignoring international warnings, test-launched as many as seven missiles within 24 hours last week, stirring global security jitters.
After traveling to Seoul and Tokyo, Hill extended his trip by returning to his first destination Beijing on Tuesday to monitor a visit to North Korea by a high-level Chinese "friendship" delegation that began the same day.
Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, traveling as a member of the Chinese delegation, met his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan, to unsuccessfully try to persuade Pyongyang to reverse course and rejoin the negotiating table, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry officials.
Hill said he expected the U.N.'s top decision-making body to send a strong message to North Korea.
"These are tense times, these are difficult times,'' Hill said.
"There will be a very strong, very clear message to North Korea."
The United States, along with Japan, is pushing for the U.N. Security Council to adopt a binding resolution calling for sanctions. China and Russia have proposed a toned-down resolution.
North Korea says the U.S. should withdraw its financial sanctions on it if the nuclear talks are to reopen. Washington has rejected the North's demand.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao, meanwhile, urged the U.S. to take the initiative by lifting its financial sanctions against the North.
"We hope the U.S. will make a concession regarding the sanctions issue and thus take steps that will help restore the six-party talks," Liu said in a conference about the G8 summit, the meeting of the world's eight richest countries.
In September, the U.S. blacklisted a Macau-based bank, Banco Delta Asia, accusing it of helping North Korea launder fake dollars allegedly made in North Korea. North Korea has denied the allegation.
In Seoul, a senior presidential security advisor reaffirmed Seoul's position against a tough resolution to punish Pyongyang for its missile activities.
"We are clarifying our position on aspects that may negatively affect the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula, as related nations are in different positions," Suh Choo-suk, President Roh Moo-hyun's senior secretary for security policy said on a radio program.
He was cautious about the feasibility of the five-way talks in the absence of North Korea.
"No compromise has been reached yet on the proposal," he said.
"It would be hard for China to accept the idea, as it will hope for negotiations reflecting North Korea's stance."
Suh said that South Korea has detected no significant indications North Korea will fire additional missiles.
Beijing Seoul, July 13 (Yonhap)
U.S. envoy heads back home after no breakthrough in N.K. missile tension |
