U.N. Sanctions Against North Korea Should Be Tightened

November 29, 2010

The funeral of two South Korean marines killed on Yeonpyeong. North Korea has yet to accept responsibility for marines, sailors and civilians it has killed in recent months.

Washington — The Obama administration called on the United Nations Security Council to tighten the enforcement of U.N. sanctions against North Korea following recent reports that Pyongyang has acquired centrifuges capable of enriching uranium to make nuclear weapons, and says North Korea’s November 23 attack against South Korea has heightened U.S. concerns over its nuclear activities.

U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Susan Rice said North Korea’s recently reported nuclear activities “are clear violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions 1718 and 1874, and of the commitments made by North Korea under the 2005 joint statement,” in which Pyongyang agreed to take verifiable and irreversible steps to end its nuclear programs.

Speaking in New York November 29, Rice said the Security Council “will now need to study carefully the recent revelations and determine the appropriate way forward,” and that all U.N. member states need to “redouble their commitment to implementing the strong sanctions” imposed by the Security Council.

The Obama administration also expects the Security Council’s committee on North Korean sanctions and the U.N. panel of experts charged with monitoring North Korean compliance to “intensify their important, ongoing efforts to tighten sanctions enforcement,” she said.

Rice said U.S. concerns about North Korea’s nuclear activities “have only been heightened” by what she described as “North Korea’s deadly, unprovoked attack” on November 23 against South Korean marines and civilians on the island of Yeonbyeong.

The United States has looked to China to “play a responsible leadership role in working to maintain peace and security” on the Korean Peninsula, she said.

“It’s in China’s interest. It’s in the interest of the countries in the region, and we expect them to take steps that are consistent with their obligations and all of our obligations under U.N. Security Council resolutions, and to work, as we all must, to uphold them and implement them,” Rice said.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said November 29 that the resumption of the Six-Party Talks involving North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States would be “just a PR [public relations] activity” unless North Korea is willing to end its provocative behavior and “come to the table with a seriousness of purpose on the denuclearization issue.”

“The United States and a host of others I don’t think are interested in stabilizing the region through a series of PR activities,” Gibbs said. The talks “cannot substitute for action by North Korea to comply with its obligations and to cease its destabilizing actions.”

North Korea needs to “demonstrate a seriousness of purpose in ending their aggressive behavior,” as well as “let the world know they’re serious … about coming to the table and living up to the obligations that they signed up for but then walked away from” after September 2005, he said.

At the State Department, spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters November 29 that the United States “will respond appropriately” to a cessation of North Korean provocations as well as seeing Pyongyang take other steps to “ease tensions in the region.”

Along with the shelling of Yeonpyeong, in which two South Korean marines and two civilians were killed, North Korea attacked the South Korean vessel Cheonan in March, leaving 46 sailors dead.

“Those are serious provocations for which North Korea has yet to take any responsibility for the deaths of South Korean sailors, marines and citizens,” Crowley said.

“What we are looking for is fundamental changes in North Korea’s behavior. If we see those changes, then we’ll react accordingly, but we want to see North Korea live up to its international obligations, cease its provocative behavior … [and] take on a more constructive posture,” he said.

For the resumption of Six-Party Talks, “there has to be some prospect that discussions will be constructive, and to have constructive discussions, the broad environment has to be taken into account,” Crowley said.

U.N. Sanctions Against North Korea Should Be Tightened

A family member mourns a victim of North Korea's artillery barrage. The State Department says the attack was premeditated and in violation of the 1953 armistice.

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer
November 29, 2010

Washington — The Obama administration says China and other countries need to join the United States in sending “a clear, direct, unified message” to North Korea’s leadership that provocations such as the November 23 artillery attack on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong are “unwarranted, unhelpful and should cease,” according to State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley.

Speaking to reporters in Washington November 24, Crowley said the attack “was a clear, premeditated action by North Korea specifically intended to inflame tensions in the region.”

North Korea violated the 1953 armistice that halted the Korean War and “fired upon a sovereign country [which] resulted in the deaths of military and civilian personnel,” he said. According to press reports, the attack left four dead, including two South Korean civilians, and injured at least 19.

Describing the incident as “a one-off, premeditated act,” Crowley said the United States does not currently believe North Korea is “preparing for an extended military confrontation.”

But the attack comes after several recent North Korean provocations through its nuclear and ballistic missile testing, the March attack on the South Korean ship Cheonan, and recent claims to have centrifuges capable of producing enriched uranium that could be used in nuclear weapons.

The Obama administration recognizes that North Korea may choose to continue taking provocative actions and the United States is “prepared to deal with the choice North Korea makes or continues to make,” Crowley said.

But in the interest of preserving peace and stability in the region, the United States, South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and other countries “have to do everything we can to fundamentally change North Korea’s calculations,” he said.

Crowley said U.S. and Chinese officials “see the situation … very similarly” and share the same interests.

“We want to see a stable situation in the region. We would like to see an end to these provocations. We would like to see a political decision by North Korea to follow through on its commitments under the 2005 joint statement,” in which Pyongyang agreed to take verifiable and irreversible steps toward ending its nuclear activities, Crowley said.

Although North Korea is a sovereign country, “China is pivotal to moving North Korea in a fundamentally different direction,” he said. “We would hope and expect China would use that influence first to reduce tensions that have arisen as a result of North Korean provocations and then, secondly, to continue to encourage North Korea to take affirmative steps to denuclearize.”