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Norks Bluster, Sorks and UN Blather about US Proposal
North Korea vowed on Friday to take "strong emergency measures" to retaliate if the United States succeeds in taking Pyongyang's nuclear programs to the United Nations Security Council. The North Korean threat came as South Korea reiterated its reluctance to put the issue before the Council at this time despite U.S. moves on Thursday for a statement condemning Pyongyang for reviving its nuclear weapons program.Weenies A draft statement circulated by Washington would call on Pyongyang "to immediately and completely dismantle its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable and irreversible manner" and fully comply with international nuclear safeguard requirements, according to a copy of the text obtained by Reuters. "In the event the United States takes the nuclear issue to the United Nations, we will respond with powerful emergency measures," said the communist state's ruling party newspaper. The Rodong Sinmun did not specify how it would respond if the nuclear crisis is taken up by the Council -- a U.S. goal it described as "an attempt to legitimize an international pressure campaign against us and provoke a second Korean War." Extra rations of Juche and white slag for everyone! South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan told reporters in the Cambodian capital on Friday, that Seoul wanted more time to allow a North Korean response to proposals for multilateral talks on the eight-month-old nuclear crisis. "With a proposal made for follow-up talks to the Beijing meeting, our government's stance is that it is important to properly choose the timing" for a U.N. Security Council debate, Yoon was quoted as telling South Korean domestic media. Weenie In April, Beijing hosted talks among U.S., North Korean and Chinese officials at which Pyongyang's representative said North Korean possessed nuclear weapons and was set to make more and possibly test or transfer them to third parties. A proposed new round of multilateral talks would expand the Beijing format to involve South Korea and Japan. North Korea has resisted this formula, insisting on bilateral talks with the United States that might be followed by a larger forum. China, joined by Russia, blocked a previous U.S. effort in early April to convince the 15-nation Security Council to condemn North Korea. On account of the Norks are such nice, reasonable folks. Washington sought the action after Pyongyang announced it was pulling out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and was enriching uranium that could be used in making bombs. Posted by: JP 2003-06-20 |
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