Obama denounces N. Korea's rocket launch, vows to bring it to UNSC

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details, background throughout)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, April 5 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday denounced
North Korea for launching a "Taepodong 2 missile" in violation of a U.N.
resolution and pledged to bring the issue to the U.N. Security Council for
possible additional sanctions.
"We will immediately consult with our allies in the region, including Japan and
the Republic of Korea, and members of the U.N. Security Council to bring this
matter before the Council," Obama said in a statement from Prague in the Czech
Republic that was released by the White House. "The launch today of a Taepo-dong
2 missile was a clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution
1718, which expressly prohibits North Korea from conducting ballistic
missile-related activities of any kind."
The State Department confirmed that the launch launch took place at 10:30 p.m.
EDT Saturday (0230 GMT Sunday).
Obama still used the word missile, although South Korean officials said that
North Korea appears to have launched a rocket for satellite delivery in
consideration of the trajectory of the rocket.
It was not clear at the moment whether the rocket launch succeeded in putting a
communications satellite into space.
Obama met with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in London and agreed that
they will bring the North's rocket launch to the security council.
In a separate meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in the British capital on
the margins of the G20 summit, Obama failed to get such an assurance amid China's
apparent reluctance to join forces in condemning the launch.
The U.S. reportedly has circulated a draft resolution for discussion at a U.N.
Security Council meeting as early as Sunday so punitive action could be leveled
against North Korean rocket launch which the U.S. and its allies insist violated
U.N. resolution 1718 adopted after the North's nuclear test in 2006.
The North's rocket launch, however, will likely make it difficult for the U.S. to
push ahead with a new resolution, as China and Russia have been sympathetic to
North Korea's claim that it has the right to send a satellite into space as part
of a peaceful space program.
Some experts say a chairman's statement will likely be adopted to reiterate the
importance of implementation of the resolution 1718, which China toned down from
mandatory implementation in 2006
"We urge North Korea to abide fully by the resolutions of the U.N. Security
Council and to refrain from further provocative actions," said Obama now on a
European tour following his attendance at the G20 economic summit. He is to
return home Tuesday.
"With this provocative act, North Korea has ignored its international
obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated
itself from the community of nations," he said. "North Korea's development and
proliferation of ballistic missile technology pose a threat to the northeast
Asian region and to international peace and security."
"Preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of
delivery is a high priority for my administration," he said. "The United States
is fully committed to maintaining security and stability in northeast Asia and we
will continue working for the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula
through the Six-Party Talks."
He urged the North to return to the six-party talks stalled over how to verify
North Korea's past and present nuclear activities.
"The Six-Party Talks provide the forum for achieving denuclearization, reducing
tensions, and for resolving other issues of concern between North Korea, its four
neighbors, and the United States," he said. "North Korea has a pathway to
acceptance in the international community, but it will not find that acceptance
unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and abides by its
international obligations and commitments."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)