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WASHINGTON: The United States headed Tuesday into another day of tough UN negotiations on North Korea pressing for a strong response but hinting it would accept less than a Security Council resolution.
Diplomats in New York said that China and Russia, which have veto power on the Security Council, have been pushing for a more muted response after Pyongyang fired a rocket Sunday over Japan.
North Korea had warned that even discussion at the Security Council of its rocket launch would lead it to bolt six-nation talks on ending its nuclear program.
"We are actively involved in consultation with partners at the United Nations, members of the Security Council," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters after meeting Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere.
"We know that working out the exact language is not easily done overnight, but we remain convinced that coming out with a strong position in the United Nations is the first and important step that we intend to take."
She did not specify the form of condemnation. Earlier, a senior US official said on condition of anonymity that the United States wanted a Security Council response but "the form of it is not what we should be hung up on."
Security Council resolutions are generally legally binding, but the 15-nation body can also issue non-binding presidential statements.
Clinton held telephone talks on Sunday with her counterparts from China, Japan, Russia and South Korea -- the other nations in the deadlocked six-way denuclearization talks.
The United States, Japan and South Korea say that North Korea flagrantly violated two Security Council resolutions approved in 2006 that prohibit it from ballistic missile tests.
But Russia and China have been more circumspect. North Korea said it launched an experimental satellite to broadcast "immortal revolutionary songs," but US, Japanese and South Korean authorities said nothing was seen in orbit.
Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said she expected the Security Council to take "at a minimum, some days" to decide on a response.
Rice told PBS public television that the 15 members of the Security Council shared "broad agreement" that "this was a serious action that undermined regional peace and security."
"Different countries had different prescriptions on how best to proceed," Rice said, adding there were gaps both "on the form and the substance" of Security Council action.
Rice voiced hope that North Korea would stick with the six-nation talks.
"Engagement and strong action needn't be mutually exclusive," she said.
"To strengthen the six-party talks and to ensure their continued viability, North Korea needs to understand from this experience that the international community will uphold its end of the bargain and it needs to uphold its end," she said.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters that the United States wanted a "strong, effective, coordinated response from the council.
But asked if the United States insisted on a resolution, Wood said: "We want the strongest possible response that we can get in the Security Council. I'd just prefer to leave it at that."
China and Russia have major space programs and had resented former US president George W. Bush's refusal to ban military operations in space.
But Alan Romberg, a former State Department spokesman who is now a fellow at the Stimson Center think tank, said it was also possible Russia and China were paying heed to North Korea's threats to leave the six-nation talks.
"It may reflect an understanding that if the Council does not take any action or at least does not criticize the launch, then the North won't walk out of the six-party talks," Romberg said.
- AFP/yt
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