|
UN debates nuclear test response; Condemnations
THE UN Security Council was expected to hold an emergency meeting today to weigh how to respond to North Korea's first-ever nuclear weapons test in brazen defiance of a UN resolution.Hours after the communist state's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) announced a successful underground nuclear test, the White House Monday said that if confirmed, the move would be a "provocative act" and called for immediate action by the UN Security Council. Last week, the 15-member Council unanimously adopted a non-binding statement calling on Pyongyang not to go ahead with the test and warned of unspecified consequences if it did so. The council has scheduled a formal vote for to nominate South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon as its choice to succeed Kofi Annan when the Ghanaian UN chief steps down at the end of December. But the vote was bound to overshadowed by North Korea's defiant act. Diplomats had been expected the test this weekend and indicated that an council emergency meeting would be held in response. A UN spokesmen said no meeting had been immediately scheduled but White House spokesman Tony Snow signalled a session was in the works. "We would expect the Security Council to meet (today)," he told reporters in Washington. Posted by: .com 2006-10-09 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=168154 |