U.S. seeking strong resolution on N. Korea for nuke test: Rice

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, May 26 (Yonhap) -- The United States will seek a strong resolution at
the United Nations Security Council to further sanction North Korea for its
recent nuclear test, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice said Tuesday.
"We're going to now pursue a very strong resolution in the Security Council with
substantially tougher sanctions," Rice told NBC's "Today" show, noting that the
nuclear test is "provocative, destabilizing, and a threat to international and
regional peace and security."
The 15-member security council convened an emergency meeting Monday and agreed to
immediately begin drafting a resolution to rebuke the North's nuclear test, the
second of its kind by the North since 2006.
Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, who holds the rotating chair of the
council this month, said Monday that council members "voiced their strong
opposition and condemnation of the nuclear test conducted on 25 May 2009 by North
Korea, which constitutes a clear violation of Resolution 1718."
North Korea said it conducted an underground nuclear test Monday, inviting strong
criticism not only from the U.S. and its allies, but also from North Korea's
allies, China and Russia, who had greatly diluted sanctions against North Korea
following its rocket launch last month.
The launch comes after the North's repeated threats to do so following the
council's sanctioning of three North Korean firms for its April 5 rocket launch,
which Pyongyang insists put a satellite into orbit.
North Korea also has expelled international nuclear monitors, threatened to
restart its disabled nuclear reactor and boycott six-party talks on ending its
nuclear ambitions amid allegations that Pyongyang is repeating its brinkmanship
to get more concessions in future negotiations.
Rice said the U.S. is committed to prohibiting North Korea from shipping its
nuclear weapons and missiles abroad.
"We're also going to be prepared to begin to interdict North Korea as it tries to
ship prohibited cargo," she said.
South Korea announced Tuesday it will fully participate in the proliferation
security initiative in an apparent response to the North's nuclear test. Seoul
had in the past been reluctant to fully participate so as not to provoke
Pyongyang, which had said South Korea's full membership is tantamount to a
declaration of war.
U.S. President Barack Obama has "expressed his appreciation to President Lee for
the decision by the Republic of Korea to join the Proliferation Security
Initiative (PSI)," a U.S-led consortium of 95 countries aimed at intercepting
vessels and airplanes suspected of trading in weapons of mass destruction.
"North Korea has a record of proliferation," Rice said. "And that's why
constraining its ability to share these nuclear materials with other countries
and with rogue actors is a top priority."
She said the U.S. is "prepared to look at a wide range of measures in the United
Nations Security Council and elsewhere that would increase the pressure and limit
their ability to proliferate further."
Appearing on another program, the "Early Show" of CBS, Rice predicted "additional
sanctions" on North Korea, noting "the Security Council has made plain that it
intends to pursue a United Nations Security Council resolution that will have
teeth in it."
"The pressure will increase in North Korea economically and otherwise, and North
Korea will recognize that its actions have only left it further isolated and
further debilitated," she said.
Diplomatic sources predict that the council will likely adopt a legally binding
resolution this time, although the U.S. and its allies last month agreed to the
presidential statement on North Korea's rocket launch in the face of opposition
from China and Russia, who hold veto power in the council.
China, North Korea's staunchest ally, demanded Tuesday that North Korea "keep its
promise of denuclearization and cease all actions that could further worsen the
situation," while Russia feared the test would "provoke an escalation of tensions
in Northeast Asia."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)