While North Korean delegates visiting Seoul put on a charm offensive to try to enlist support from South Korea, a U.S. official said here today that the U.N. Security Council will be asked this week to deal with the Stalinist state's nuclear ambitions. Referral of the issue to the Security Council would set up a showdown with North Korea, which has said U.N. approval of sanctions would be "tantamount to war."
Deputy Undersecretary of State John Bolton said: "I don't think it's a question of if it goes to the Security Council." He said Beijing and Seoul have agreed and "we're confident that it will get there by the end of this week."
Hot Potato! Hot potato! Here, catch!
The International Atomic Energy Agency, which can refer North Korea's nuclear violations to the U.N. body, was late today still considering when to schedule a meeting of its board of governors. Bolton said after visiting Seoul and Beijing, there was "agreement" that the IAEA should notify the Security Council of North Korea's eviction of IAEA inspectors and declaration that it was withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. But at a press conference here, Bolton sidestepped the question of whether the United States would push for sanctions against North Korea. "The Security Council has a broad range of options it can consider -- political, economic and other," he said. "The issue of taking the matter to the Security Council and the question of sanctions are two entirely separate matters. The Security Council has dealt with a large range of issues, only a small number of which have economic sanctions been imposed," he said.
And we all know how effective those sanctions have been. |