Posted on : Oct.11,2006 14:30 KST
On North, China’s stance edges closer to that of U.S.
The U.N. Security Council on October 9 was busy discussing sanctions against the North after John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., distributed a draft proposal of the U.N. resolution.
The U.S. is likely to try to completely cut off North Korea’s financial resources using the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolution. During an interview with CNN, U.S. assistant secretary of state Christopher Hill said that the U.S. will do everything possible to make Pyongyang realize the fact that if it owns nuclear weapons, it will have no future.
The U.S. draft version of the resolution invokes Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, and points out both concrete steps to take and the enforcement of member nations to perform them.
Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter has been an issue of debate in the writing of UNSC resolutions against the North. It includes a section dealing with threats to international peace, breaches of peace and acts of aggression, as well as Article 41 on severance of economic and diplomatic relations and Article 42 on possible military operation by U.N. member nations.
The U.S. has said it would not pursue military action against the North. Moreover, perhaps due to pressure from China and Russia, the U.S. did not include the mention of a complete severance of economic and diplomatic relations or direct military action in its draft. But U.N. sources note that in light of the fact that Chapter VII was not included in UNSC Resolution 1695, which was adopted on July 16 shortly after North Korea’s missile launches, nor in the UNSC’s statement on October 6 warning the North against a nuclear test, it will not be easy for China and Russia to refuse a reference to Chapter VII this time around.
The U.S. draft called for the performance of the September 19, 2005 joint statement forged at the end of the fourth round of six-party talks, the observance of a missile moratorium, the strengthening of UNSC Resolution 1695, financial sanctions to stop illegal proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the freezing of WMD-related assets and transactions, and a ban on trade of WMD-related military supplies and other items for that purpose. The UNSC member nations will likely not raise any objections to these measures.
The section of the draft which calls for international inspections of all cargo moving into and out of North Korea is expected to raise controversy, however. This measure will have the effect of strong, overarching economic sanctions. North Korea has declared that it would accept this as a declaration of war, though it has said the same thing about other sanctions already being leveled at Pyongyang. Russia, and China especially, are expected not to accept such strong wording. It is probably for this reason that Britain and France did not immediately express their opinion after viewing the U.S. draft. It looks as if Washington aims at preventing China from exercising its veto power by compromising with Beijing after stating its strongest stance.
Despite all of the tensions being brought to the UNSC negotiating table, a high-ranking South Korean government official predicted, "It won’t take long for the UNSC to adopt a resolution." His remark means that the U.S. and China, which agree on the denuclearization of North Korea, are likely engaged in strategic negotiations to come to a quick agreement.
