China agrees to draft resolution on N. Korea for nuke test: diplomats

NEW YORK, June 9 (Yonhap) -- China has agreed on a draft resolution on further sanctioning North Korea for its nuclear test last month, the second in nearly three years, removing a major obstacle to a deal, diplomatic sources here said Tuesday.

"China has agreed on a compromise draft resolution presented by the U.S. and the
Western countries," a diplomat said, asking anonymity. "We expect an announcement
on a final agreement will be made soon."
Russia has yet to agree to the draft, citing the need to consult its capital, the
diplomat said. "However, we understand negotiations have reached the terminal
station."
The five veto-wielding permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus South
Korea and Japan, have met several times since the North's May 25 nuclear
detonation, but have failed to narrow differences over the level of sanctions,
although they have agreed on the need to adopt a legally binding resolution
against the North.
Emerging from a meeting of the P-5 plus 2 that also involves the U.S., China,
Russia, Britain and France, Susan Rice, U.S. permanent representative to the
U.N., said that progress has been made, but added, "We're not done yet.
"We're all working through a large set of very complex difficult issues, and this
is a very technical endeavor," she said. "I am hopeful that this will be
concluded relatively soon, but I can't give you a more specific prediction than
that."
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in Washington that another P-5 plus 2
meeting will be held Wednesday to work out "a number of technical details."
The spokesman urged North Korea to refrain from making further provocations and
return to the six-party talks on ending its nuclear weapons programs.
"We need North Korea to take concrete actions, to come off the path that they're
on and return to the talks and begin to integrate with the international
community," he said.
The 35-point draft resolution bans any further nuclear and ballistic missile
tests and calls for overall arms embargoes and financial sanctions on North
Korea, other sources said, adding the draft will soon be circulated to the
15-member Security Council for a possible vote in the coming days.
The draft calls for U.N. member states to escort any North Korean vessels deemed
to carry parts of weapons of mass destruction to their territorial waters for
cargo inspections if the North Korean craft resist interdiction in international
waters.
China has demanded any inspections be made within the framework of existing
international law, which prohibits cargo interdictions in international waters
unless approved by the country of the flag carried by the vessels.
China has served as the key to effective implementation of any sanctions on North
Korea, which is heavily dependent on its communist neighbor for energy, food and
other necessities. Beijing demanded any sanctions be conducive to coaxing the
reclusive North to return to the multilateral nuclear disarmament talks.
China, North Korea's closest communist ally and its greatest benefactor, along
with Russia thwarted a bid by Washington and its allies to adopt a resolution
after North Korea's April 5 rocket launch. A largely symbolic Security Council
presidential statement was adopted at that time.
The draft resolution also bans member states from funneling to North Korea
financial assistance or any other resources that may contribute to the North's
nuclear, ballistic missile and any other programs related to weapons of mass
destruction.
U.N. member states are also advised to reduce or refrain from providing any
further financial aid to North Korea unless the aid is related to humanitarian
activity.
The enhanced financial sanctions come as U.S. officials say Washington will
consider pursuing its own financial sanctions against North Korea aside from
those under the U.N.
Washington slapped financial sanctions on a Macau bank in 2005 to freeze US$25
million worth of North Korean assets, effectively cutting off Pyongyang's access
to the international financial system. Banco Delta Asia had been accused of
helping North Korea launder money from circulating sophisticated counterfeit
US$100 bills called "supernotes."
Reports said that the U.S. recently found that North Korea circulated about US$1
million worth of supernotes at a South Korean port late last year.
It is not clear whether the sanctions will deter the North from further
provocations, with some saying Pyongyang will eventually return to bilateral or
multilateral negotiations and others voicing pessimism about Pyongyang's
willingness to abandon its nuclear arsenal.
North Korea's recent provocations, including nuclear and missile tests, are
widely seen as an attempt by ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to help his
third and youngest son, Jong-un, consolidate power in an unprecedented third
generation dynastic power transfer in the reclusive communist state.