Divisions on N. Korea sanctions spur diplomatic push

UNITED STATES: The United States insisted on Sunday that China had an obligation to help enforce new U.N. sanctions on North Korea for its claimed nuclear test, despite Beijing's misgivings over the risk of provoking Pyongyang.

But in a bid to mollify China, essential to the success of a Security Council resolution passed on Saturday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington wants to implement it in a way that avoids "open conflict" with North Korea.

China joined in the Council's 15-0 approval of a U.S.-drafted package of financial and weapons sanctions against North Korea, its old Communist ally and trading partner. Raising questions about how effective the measures would be, Beijing made clear, however, that it would not conduct searches of cargo going to and from North Korea for material that could be used to produce weapons of mass destruction.

The Security Council authorized international inspections on land and sea but the final resolution was softened at China and Russia's insistence to make that provision less mandatory.

U.S. President George W. Bush was sending Rice to Japan, South Korea and China this week for negotiations on how to implement the resolution, which followed Pyongyang's Oct. 9 announcement that it conducted a nuclear test in defiance of international pressure.

"I am quite certain that China is going to live up to its responsibilities," Rice told Fox News Sunday. "I'm quite certain that China has no interest in seeing the proliferation of dangerous materials from North Korea."

The resolution bars trade with North Korea in dangerous weapons, heavy conventional weapons and luxury goods and asks nations to freeze funds linked to its WMD programs.

Echoing Bush, Rice said, "The North Koreans now face a united front that will not allow them to pursue their nuclear programs without consequences."

But analysts said sanctions are unlikely to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions, and their effectiveness at getting Pyongyang back to negotiations and curbing dangerous exports could be undermined by China and South Korea, which are worried about destabilizing the region.

Most of Pyongyang's trade crosses through China, which fears a flood of refugees if the Pyongyang government collapses. North Korea also rests between China's border and South Korea, where 25,000 U.S. troops are stationed.

South Korea said it would "faithfully implement" the resolution. But Seoul, which has taken a more moderate approach than its U.S. ally, said it would not pull the plug on its two main projects in the North, an industrial park and a mountain resort, which supply steady cash to Pyongyang's leaders.

In Tokyo, Shoichi Nakagawa, chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Research Council, said Japan needs to discuss whether to develop nuclear weapons, though he expressed the belief that it would adhere to its ban on such weapons.

Even after voting with the 14 other Security Council members, China warned against "provocative steps" and reiterated that it would not conduct any cargo inspections.

Washington, Monday, Reuters