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North Korea to View Would-be Sanctions as Declaration of War
Japanese sources reported a second nuclear test in North Korea on Wednesday. However, a new blast in North Korea was never officially confirmed. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council started discussing resolution introducing severe sanctions against the country. North Korean authorities responded saying that they will consider these measures as a declaration of war.
The uproar after the first nuclear test had not disappeared when a new nuclear test in North Korea was reported. Japan’s NHK and Nihon Television quoted sources in the Japanese government on Tuesday night reporting an underground tremor in North Korea. NHK and Nihon Television said that a new blast in North Korea could have caused the tremor. Unidentified sources in the Japanese government confirmed the reports.
However, officials from the United States, Japan and South Korea denied any blast later. White House Spokesman Blair Jones said: “We have not found any proof that North Korea has held a new test.” Jones said that the tremor was probably caused by an earthquake in northern Japan. South Korea’s administration also dismissed the reports. Japan’s government, however, was not so outright. “I have information that North Korea may have held a second nuclear test today, but I have no proof of it,” Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said.
The situation around the Korean nuclear program is still hot. The UN Security Council has launched a discussion of U.S.-proposed draft resolution on North Korea. The blueprint pushes for strict economic and political sanctions against Pyongyang. The draft, for one, calls for international inspections of cargoes from and to North Korea as well as halting exports weapons and chemicals related to weapons of mass destruction and missiles programs to North Korea. The United States also suggests that UN members boycott North Korea’s produce and outlaw the country’s high-ranking officials from other nations. Tokyo has even a tougher stance than Washington. Japan urges the international community to ban planes and vessels of North Korea from international airports and ports if they carry any components needed for development of nuclear weapons or ballistic missiles.
However, a would-be UN-approved military operation against North Korea is off the agenda, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday. U.S. George W. Bush told her the United States was not going to invade or attack North Korea. “We can guarantee this,” Rice said. She added, though, that Bush was considering all possible solutions to the problems. The Secretary of State also pointed out that North Korea has only one way-out, i.e. giving up its nuclear program.
China’s UN Ambassador Wang Guangya also gave his reaction on the U.S.-backed resolution. Having consulted with U.S., British, French and Russian diplomats, the Chinese representative said that international diplomacy should demonstrate “a solid, constructive but an appropriate approach” to settle the North Korea crisis. Wang Guangya made it clear that his country was willing to support some of the measures proposed by Japan and the United States. U.S. diplomats appreciated this, but as U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton noted that the parties “have not achieved full agreement yet.”
North Korea responded to these reports yesterday. Kim Yong Nam, chairman of the presidium of the North Korean Supreme People’s Council, said Pyongyang would consider the sanctions if they were adopted as a declaration of war. “If the United States continues to be hostile and apply pressure on us, we will have no other choice but violent measures to confront them,” the country’s high-placed official said.
Sergey Strokan
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 12, 2006
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