06 December 2010
North Korean Actions Prompt U.S., South Korean, Japanese Unity
Washington — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan jointly declared that recent North Korean actions have jeopardized peace and stability in Asia and said Pyongyang’s “provocative and belligerent behavior … will be met with solidarity from all three countries.”
In remarks after their meeting in Washington December 6, Clinton said North Korea’s November 23 attack upon the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong violated the 1953 armistice that halted armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula, and its announcement that it has centrifuges capable of enriching uranium violates U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874.
Clinton said the Six-Party Talks, involving North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia, Japan and the United States, “cannot substitute for action by North Korea to comply with its obligations.”
She expressed appreciation for China’s initiative to propose an emergency session of discussions, but said, “we first need an appropriate basis” for their resumption. “Any effort, of course, must start with North Korea ceasing all provocative and belligerent behavior,” she said.
“They need to demonstrate a seriousness of purpose in ending their provocations and let the world know they are now ready to come to the table and fulfill the commitments that they have already made,” she said, including their 2005 pledge to take verifiable and irreversible steps to end North Korean nuclear programs.
The United States, Japan and South Korea continue to be in close coordination with China and Russia, and Clinton said she has told her Chinese counterparts that China “has a special role to play in helping to shape North Korea’s behavior.”
“We would hope that China would work with us to send a clear, unmistakable message to North Korea that they have to demonstrate a seriousness of purpose in ending their provocative actions,” she said, adding that there are “many ways” for North Korea to do that.
Foreign Minister Kim urged China to give clearer warnings to North Korea over its actions. “These provocations are not at all helping the security of the region and the peninsula, so we would like China to play a more important role,” he said.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced December 6 that it has opened a preliminary examination into North Korea’s shelling of Yeonpyeong Island and the March 26 sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan.
According to a statement from the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor, the examination will evaluate whether either or both incidents “constitute war crimes under the jurisdiction of the Court.”
The ICC “has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide possibly committed on the territory of the Republic of Korea or by its nationals” since February 1, 2003, when the Rome Statute entered into force in South Korea. Seoul signed the statute in 2002.
“The Office of the Prosecutor is mandated by the Statute to conduct preliminary examinations for the purpose of determining if the Rome Statute criteria for opening an investigation are met,” the ICC statement said.
(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)
