UN reaches broad agreement on N. Korea statement

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-10-06 15:55

UNITED NATIONS - UN Security Council members reached broad agreement on Thursday on a Japanese-drafted statement that warns North Korea of unspecified consequences if it conducts a nuclear test.

The text is similar to the original and was negotiated by junior diplomats of the 15 council members. It was being sent to governments for possible changes before further discussions on Friday.

North Korea announced on Tuesday it planned its first underground nuclear test, saying its hand had been forced by a US "threat of nuclear war and sanctions."

The statement, first submitted by Japan's UN Ambassador Kenzo Oshima, this month's council president, urges Pyongyang to cancel its planned test and return immediately to six-party talks aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its atomic arms program.

The text warns North Korea that a nuclear test would lead to further unspecified council action "consistent with its responsibility under the Charter of the United Nations."

But it does not include a US proposal to refer to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which lists enforcement actions.

Chapter 7 includes sanctions and other punitive measures, including a military strike, providing the council adopts a resolution specifying the action, which at this stage is doubtful.

The statement tells North Korea any nuclear weapons test would "jeopardize peace, stability and security in the region and beyond and "bring universal condemnation by the international community."

"I think it is important for the international community, through the council, let North Korea understand that noncompliance would involve some consequences," Oshima said earlier.

Diplomats said officials in Beijing and Moscow may try to change the text. China had insisted that the six-power talks and not the Security Council should be the main forum for dealing with North Korea.

The draft statement includes a paragraph saying the Security Council supports the six-party talks. It calls for their "early resumption with a view to achieving the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

The two Koreas, China, Japan, the United States and Russia have held talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, but North Korea walked out of them a year ago and refuses to return until Washington ends a financial squeeze.

The Security Council adopted a resolution on July 15 imposing weapons-related sanctions on North Korea in response to its flurry of missile tests earlier that month.

That measure demands that North Korea suspend "all activities" on its ballistic missile programs and bans imports from or exports to North Korea of missile-related items.