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China-Japan-Koreas
Security Council still deadlocked on Norks
2009-04-11
Check the very cool Google Earth pic of the Nork missile launch at the link. That's the only useful thing you'll get from this article, which reads like a NYT intern wrote it over a liquid lunch.
For the second straight day, the United Nations Security Council yesterday failed to agree on a response to the North Korean rocket launch, but Mexican and Costa Rican ambassadors said China, which has urged restraint in response, may support a resolution affirming previous sanctions as a compromise.

While there was no official meeting of the 15 member nations, the five permanent members with veto power - the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, China and France - met separately with Japan, a non-standing member, to discuss the UN response. They reached no agreement and scheduled another meeting for today.

The United States and Japan believe the North Korean launch, regardless of the payload on its rocket, constitutes a violation of existing Security Council Resolution 1718 that bans the North from ballistic missile-related activities. They have been pushing for a strong response, while China and Russia have suggested a more muted one. A Security Council resolution requires unanimous support from the five permanent member nations.

Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, reiterated the U.S. stance that a firm measure is necessary. “We are actively involved in consultation with partners at the United Nations, members of the Security Council,” she said. “We know that working out the exact language is not easily done overnight, but we remain convinced that coming out with a strong position in the United Nations is the first and important step that we intend to take.”

State Department spokesman Robert Wood also called for “a strong, effective and coordinated response from the Security Council.”

But when asked if the U.S. was pushing for a resolution, Wood said, “We want the strongest possible response that we can get in the Security Council. I’d just prefer to leave it at that.”

Meanwhile, diplomats told Bloomberg that China may back a resolution that urges North Korea to comply with UN resolutions, as a compromise with the United States.
Boy howdy, that should do it.
Jorge Urbina, Costa Rica’s ambassador to the UN, said China “might accept a weak resolution or a strong statement.” A statement is not legally binding.

“Before the launch they [Chinese envoys] were not ready to accept a resolution, but now they could do so,” Urbina was quoted as saying. “They are just concerned that the process of the six-party talks is not endangered.”

Ambassador Claude Heller of Mexico, which holds the presidency of the Security Council this month, also said Chinese representatives suggested privately that they might be willing to agree to a resolution that, without levying new penalties, merely warns Pyongyang to honor existing resolutions.

However, Liu Yutong, spokesman for China’s mission to the UN, said China has never officially announced it would support a resolution of any kind. “There needs to be further discussions,” Liu said.

Meanwhile, Russia maintained that the international community should not overreact. “The key thing is to make sure we do not confine ourselves to some kind of emotional knee-jerk reaction,” said Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador at the UN.
Posted by:Steve White

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