Clinton warns of consequences from N. Korea's rocket launch

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Tuesday warned of possible sanctions against North Korea for its proposed satellite launch, which the U.S. sees as a cover for a ballistic missile test.

"We have said repeatedly that their missile launch violates U.N. Security Council
Resolution 1718, and there will be consequences certainly in the United Nations
Security Council if they proceed with the launch," Clinton told a news briefing
in the Hague, Netherlands, hinting at possible sanctions at the United Nations
Security Council, according to a transcript released by the State Department. "It
is an unfortunate and continuing example of provocation by the North Koreans."
The fresh warning comes after U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Sunday
the U.S. will not shoot down the rocket unless it is approaching U.S. territory.
Such restraint is seen as necessary to avoid the worst-case scenario in which
North Korea scraps the six-party talks and detonates a second nuclear device in a
showdown with the U.S.
Despite warnings from the U.S. and Japan that they might shoot down any rocket
from North Korea, experts have dismissed the possibility of an interception due
to political ramifications and technical shortfalls in the U.S. missile defense
system.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has also said that he opposes any military
action against the North's rocket launch for fear of further escalation of
tensions in Northeast Asia.
Amid slim chances of interception, the only viable option is imposing sanctions
on North Korea.
However, China and Russia, veto powers in the U.N. Security Council, have been
reluctant to sanction the North for a rocket launch to send a communications
satellite into space, to which the North claims to have the right as part of a
peaceful space program.
South Korea's chief nuclear envoy, Wi Sung-lak, has said that the chief nuclear
envoys of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan last week agreed to bring the North's
rocket launch to the Security Council, but "would not prejudge" what the council
will do.
Another senior South Korean diplomat has acknowledged differing positions,
although he said, "We need to wait and see how different their positions will
be."
China greatly reduced the level of sanctions in the resolution adopted after
North Korea's ballistic missile launch in 2006.
The council is expected to adopt a resolution, with or without sanctions, or a
chairman's statement without specific sanctions once the rocket is launched by
the North between Saturday and April 8.
Officials and experts here believe the rocket launch and ensuing sanctions will
soon be followed by resumption of the six-party talks, deadlocked over how to
verify North Korea's nuclear facilities
A six-party deal for the North's nuclear dismantlement in return for economic and
diplomatic benefits was made in early 2007, just months after North Korea's
ballistic missile launch and nuclear test in late 2006.
North Korea is believed to have been sharing data with Iran, which recently
orbited a satellite without facing any international sanctions. Iran's rocket was
reportedly developed in close cooperation with North Korea over the past decades.

Clinton and other U.S. and South Korean officials have discussed the need for
resumption of missile talks with North Korea, suspended a decade earlier.
Pyongyang demanded Washington pay up to US$1 billion annually in compensation for
the North halting its long-range missile exports, deployment and development.
It is not clear at the moment whether the missile talks would be incorporated
into the six-party talks.
U.S. President Barack Obama is to address the North Korean missile issue later
this week when he meets with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Chinese
President Hu Jintao and other world leaders bilaterally on the sidelines of the
G20 economic summit in London.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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