US has votes for UN resolution: Burns: Censuring N. Korea for testing missile
WASHINGTON, July 9: The Bush administration on Sunday said it had the votes in the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against North Korea’s nuclear missile programme and urged China to use its influence to get Pyongyang back to the negotiating table.
“We think we’ve got the votes to pass that,” US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ television programme.
Security Council members Russia and China have veto power and have opposed the resolution drafted by Japan.
They could abstain and allow the resolution to pass, but China has said the lack of unanimity would send a weak signal.
A vote may come on Monday.
However, China has instead suggested informal six-party talks to jump-start efforts to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programme, a proposal that has received US support.
With the differences at the United Nations over sanctions, US officials engaged in a media blitz of television interviews pressing for a diplomatic solution to get North Korea back to the negotiating table.
Burns, who appeared on four US television news shows, cited as one positive sign the fact that China was sending a senior-level delegation to Pyongyang.
“And it’s time for China to exert its influence that it does have on North Korea,” he said on ‘Fox News Sunday’.
Burns said the United States did not have any assurances from China it would not use its veto of UN sanctions.
“I don’t think we’ve heard the last word from China. I’m not sure the Chinese have figured out exactly what they’re going to do. It may depend on what the Chinese hear in Pyongyang from the North Korean leadership,” he said.
One US lawmaker warned China that it could face cooler ties with the United States if it does not take a tougher stance on North Korea.
“The Chinese are the key to this,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican.
“If they don’t really come to the table harder with North Korea, they’re going to be hanging by a thread in terms of international diplomatic policy.”
The crisis erupted after North Korea test-fired seven missiles despite widespread international pressure against such a move.
The UN resolution, co-sponsored by the United States, Britain and France, says that no nation may procure missiles or related ‘items, materials goods and technology’ from North Korea, or transfer financial resources to the isolated communist country’s dangerous weapons programmes.
“We need to find the means to deny North Korea the financial means to buy missile technology or nuclear technology,” US envoy Christopher Hill told CNN.
“We really want to make sure that we’re not allowing North Korea to go around and pick up technology or to trade in these components.”
And, Burns cautioned that diplomacy could take longer.
“Diplomacy sometimes can’t succeed in a day or two, or a week or two,” he said. “Sometimes it takes many months or even years to succeed.”
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il said his country would not budge in negotiations with the United States, adding Pyongyang was ready to meet any attack with a strong blow of its own, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday.—Reuters
