LEAD) U.S. seeks strong, binding resolution on N. Korea's nuke test: State Dept.

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By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, June 1 (Yonhap) -- The United States Monday said it was seeking a
strong and binding U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea's recent
nuclear test while urging the North to return to the six-party denuclearization
talks.

"And so what we want to see, as I said, again, is a strong, unified and binding
resolution that will deal with the North," deputy State Department spokesman
Robert Wood said. "One has to remember all of this was brought on by the North
Koreans, and we want to see them come back to the negotiating table, so that we
can achieve that verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
A draft resolution written by the U.S., which is being reviewed by the 15-member
security council, calls for financial sanctions on North Korea and bars the North
from all weapons trade.
It is not clear at the moment whether China, a veto power and North Korea's
staunchest communist ally, will approve the kind of financial sanctions that
almost paralyzed North Korea's overseas financial transactions in 2005 when the
U.S. froze tens of millions of dollars in North Korean assets in Macau's Banco
Delta Asia.
China, which provides most of the energy North Korea needs and is Pyongyang's
largest trading and investment partner, has refrained from sanctioning its
nuclear-armed but impoverished neighbor.
Ambassadors of the five permanent members of the council and South Korea and
Japan will get together later in the day at the United Nations headquarters in
New York to discuss the draft, Wood said.
"The P-5 plus two is meeting today at ambassadorial level," Wood said. "They're
going to continue with our discussions on coming up with a strong resolution that
responds to the North's violation of its international obligations."
The spokesman said he was "not going to get into the substance of what may or may
not be in that resolution, because the discussions are ongoing," but added,
"What's important here is that we send a very strong and unified message to North
Korea that it cannot get away with the belligerent rhetoric and provocative
behavior that it's been engaged in."
China and Russia thwarted efforts by the U.S. and its allies to adopt a legally
binding U.N. Security Council resolution to rebuke North Korea for its rocket
launch on April 5.
North Korea denounced China and Russia last week for supporting the council's
adoption of a presidential statement calling for tougher sanctions on three North
Korean firms for the launch, which Pyongyang insists was to orbit a satellite.
In an apparent move to dilute any sanctions, Pyongyang said it will take stronger
measures for self-defense if the council condemns the North further, denouncing
"other forces flattering the U.S.," an apparent reference to China and Russia,
for "maneuvering to rebuke the rocket launch at the U.N. while telling us that
the satellite launch is the right of a sovereign state."
Deputy Treasury Secretary Stuart E. Eizenstat is accompanying a U.S. delegation
to Asian capitals, led by Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, apparently
to discuss possible financial sanctions against North Korea.
"Today in Tokyo, Deputy Secretary Steinberg met with Japanese Foreign Minister
(Hirofumi) Nakasone and Vice Foreign Minister (Mitoji) Yabunaka and with senior
Japanese Self-Defense Force officials," Wood said. "They held good discussions on
the North Korea nuclear issue and reaffirmed the two countries' commitment to
achieving the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
The delegation is also to visit Seoul, Beijing and Moscow.
On the reports that North Korea is moving to launch an intercontinental ballistic
missile, Wood said, "We don't talk about intelligence matters. But again, any
ballistic-missile launch by the North would be a clear violation of U.N. Security
Council Resolution 1718."
Reports said that train cars are carrying a missile to a base in the North's west
coast for possible launch in mid June.
North Korea last week fired several short-range missiles soon after its second
nuclear test in three years. The nation also threatened to boycott the six-party
talks and retaliate and reinforce its nuclear and ballistic missile arsenal
unless the Security Council apologizes.
Pyongyang also threatened to nullify the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean
War and shun any dialogue with the U.S., citing what it calls hostile policy.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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