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17 July 2003

U.S. Wants Diplomacy Before U.N. Action on North Korea

But U.S.-proposed Security Council statement still on table

By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- The United States still has a proposed U.N. Security Council presidential statement on North Korea before the Council but prefers to give diplomatic efforts more time before asking the council to take action, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said July 16.

Talking with journalists after a private Security Council meeting with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, Negroponte said that since the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) referred the problem of North Korea's reprocessing of uranium rods to the council several months ago, the United States and countries in the region have favored a diplomatic approach.

"The government of China has taken a very strong interest in this question and their vice foreign minister has been in Pyongyang and will soon be consulting with our government on this matter, I believe, this coming Friday (July 18). And so, I think the diplomatic track continues," the ambassador said.

In June Negroponte told journalists that the Security Council presidential statement proposed by the United States "would say to the effect that North Korea is out of compliance with its international obligations with respect to nonproliferation and call on North Korea to rejoin the international community in this area, place its facilities under the safeguards, and cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency and with its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT)."

The crisis over North Korea's nuclear program was first referred to the Security Council in February 2003 by the IAEA Board of Governors after IAEA efforts failed to get North Korea to come into compliance with the NPT and allow IAEA inspectors into the country.

In December 2002 Pyongyang expelled IAEA inspectors, cut seals, and blocked surveillance cameras IAEA had placed in North Korean nuclear facilities. In January 2003 the IAEA board adopted a resolution declaring North Korea's actions to be contrary to its safeguards agreement and calling on Pyongyang to work with the IAEA. North Korea declared the resolution was unjust and announced it was withdrawing from the NPT. Its withdrawal was effective on April 10.

North Korea has said that it would consider a Security Council condemnation a prelude to war.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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