U.S. calls on U.N. members to implement N. Korean arms embargo

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 (Yonhap) -- The United States reiterated Sunday that all
members of the United Nations are obliged to implement the U.N. resolutions
banning North Korea from proliferating all conventional weapons as well as
weapons of mass destruction.
"We reiterate that 1874 bars all military exports and that all U.N. members have
an obligation to implement," a State Department official said, asking anonymity,
when asked about the seizure of North Korean weapons in Thailand Saturday.
Thai authorities seized 35 tons of explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and
missile parts in a Georgia-registered flight Saturday when the flight landed at a
Thai airport in Bangkok for refueling possibly on its way to Ukraine.
Thai authorities said that they were tipped off by the U.S. on the flight
carrying the North Korean weapons.
U.N. Resolution 1874 was adopted after North Korea's second nuclear test in May,
after one in 2006, to call for an overall arms embargo and financial sanctions
and interdiction of cargo on the high seas to prevent the proliferation of
nuclear weapons, missiles, other weapons of mass destruction and conventional
arms.
The seizure comes amid upbeat sentiment after the visit to Pyongyang by Stephen
Bosworth, special representative for North Korea policy, last week to persuade
North Korea back to six-party talks on ending the North's denuclearization.
At the end of a three-day trip to Pyongyang Thursday, Bosworth said that he
failed to obtain the North's commitment to return to the six-party talks,
involving the two Koreas, United States, China, Russia and Japan, which have been
deadlocked over the U.N. sanctions for North Korea's nuclear and missile tests.
The U.S. point man on North Korea, however, said in Seoul that the sides have
"identified some common understandings on the need for, and the role of, the
six-party talks and the importance of implementation of the 2005 joint
statement."
The 2005 deal calls for the North's nuclear dismantlement in return for provision
of massive economic aid, normalization of ties between the North and the U.S. and
Japan and establishment of a peace regime to replace the armistice signed at the
end of Korean War in 1953.
Speaking to reporters in Tokyo earlier in the day before departing for Moscow for
debriefing of his Pyongyang trip, Bosworth said, "We will exercise what Secretary
of State Clinton has described as strategic patience. We will continue our
efforts at coordination over the next several weeks." He returns to Washington
Tuesday.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the meeting, the first since
the inauguration of the Obama administration in January, as "quite positive,"
stressing the need for "strategic patience" in dealing with the reclusive
communist state.
Philip Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, also categorized
the meeting as a "good start," saying Washington is ready to have another
high-level meeting with North Korea.
"We thought it was constructive, but we await more information from North Korea
as to whether and how they will proceed to come back to the six-party process,
whether that means a phone call or another meeting, we'll wait and see."
Crowley said that the U.S. will continue sanctions, and expressed confidence
Pyongyang will eventually return to the six-party talks "because, otherwise, the
alternative is we will continue to aggressively enforce sanctions through
continued consultations with the other partners in the six-party process."
Arms sales are one of major sources of revenue for North Korea, which has long
been under international financial sanctions led by the U.S.
North Korea has long been suspected of being behind nuclear and missile
proliferation in Syria, Iran, Pakistan and several other countries in the Middle
East.
The United Arab Emirates in July seized a Bahamian-flagged ship carrying North
Korean rocket-propelled grenades and other conventional weapons labeled as
machine parts, the first seizure of its kind that effectively intercepted a North
Korean arms shipment since the Security Council adopted Resolution 1874 in June
after North Korea's nuclear test in May.
India seized a North Korean ship off its coast in early August only to find no
weapons aboard.
In late June, a North Korean cargo ship, possibly on its way to Myanmar, returned
home after being closely tracked by U.S. Navy vessels.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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