U.N. Close To Sanctions On North Korea
China, South Korea Agree To Sanctions, No Military Option In Present Draft
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Play CBS Video Video Bush Rejects Bilateral Talks President Bush insisted the U.N. Security Council hit North Korea with new sanctions in response to its reported nuclear test, but said the U.S. won't negotiate bilaterally. Jim Axelrod reports.
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Video Bush: Nuke Claim Is A Threat CBS News RAW: President Bush addressed North Korea's claim that it has successfully conducted a nuclear test. The president is calling for harsh sanctions.
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Video N. Korea May Test Nuke Again Only On The Web: Bill Plante reports another nuclear test by the North Koreans would not come as a surprise to the White House, but they have no plans on dealing one on one with Kim Jong Il.
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North Korean freighters - decks piled high with a cargo of used bicycles - prepare to head home from Sakaiminato, Japan, October 13, 2006, now that Japan is closing its ports to North Korea. (AP)
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Protesters in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 13, 2006, voice their opinion on the debate at the United Nations over whether to impose sanctions on North Korea because of its nuclear weapons test. (AP)
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A former South Korean intelligence agent, demonstrating in front of the Defense Ministry in Seoul wearing a North Korean uniform, volunteers to go North and eliminate any nuclear weapons he finds. (AP)
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The U.S. has taken a lead role in the negotiations over sanctions on North Korea. Above: President Bush with Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan at the White House, Oct. 12, 2006. (AP Photo/Xinhua)
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Tourists walk on the Yalu River 'Broken Bridge' along China's border with North Korea, Oct. 13, 2006. The bridge - bombed by the U.S. during the Korean War – now reaches just halfway across the river. (AP)
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The U.S. draft was softened from a previous version as a concession to Russia and China, in the hope of seeing a resolution on the nuclear standoff passed by Friday.
The United States reported significant progress Thursday night in bridging differences with Russia and China after more than two hours of negotiations among ambassadors from the five permanent council nations - the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France - and Japan's ambassador, the current council president.
The presidents of China and South Korea agreed Friday to support sanctions to achieve a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula but want to see stability maintained, a South Korean official said. He said they discussed the U.S.-proposed draft resolution on penalties but reached no agreement.
Presidents Hu Jintao and Roh Moo-hyun didn't talk about details of what steps should be taken, Roh's security adviser said.
Meanwhile, Russia's envoy to six-nation nuclear disarmament talks was in Pyongyang on the first known high-level foreign visit to the North since its claimed test Monday.
China and South Korea are the North's main sources of trade and aid, and effective sanctions would require their cooperation. Both governments have warned against worsening the situation by overreacting.
China wanted to ensure that nothing in the draft could trigger military action, and the new U.S. draft circulated Thursday night eliminated a blanket arms embargo in the previous text.
The U.S. said it hoped a vote could be held on Friday on its new resolution, though Japan said Saturday was more likely.
"We have made very substantial progress," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters Thrusday. "I don't want to say we've reached agreement yet, but many, many of the significant differences have been closed, very much to our satisfaction."
"Behind closed doors and in U.N. corridors, there is more agreement than disagreement on a tough sanctions resolution on North Korea," says CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk. "Some provisions have been softened to satisfy the Russian and Chinese opposition to confrontation. One item that did make it into this version is a recommendation for voluntary inspection of cargo on vessels to and from North Korea."
"Watered down or not, the Security Council is likely to pass the resolution this weekend, sending a message to both North Korea and Iran that proliferation of nuclear weapons is unacceptable to the international community," said Falk
Under the new draft, nations would be barred from selling to or supplying North Korea with specific weapons - including missiles, tanks, warships and combat aircraft.
Likewise, the North would be barred from exporting such weapons to U.N. member states.
China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya agreed that "good progress has been made" in improving the text. Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said there had been "a number of improvements" and council unity "is in good shape."
Meanwhile, North Korean ships loaded their final cargoes of secondhand bicycles and household appliances in Sakaiminato, a Japanese port city a short journey from the North, after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet approved closing the country's ports to North Korean ships and banning trade with the communist state. The sanctions also include a six-month ban on travel to Japan by all North Korean government officials.
The strong response came even though North Korea's claim to have detonated a nuclear explosion Monday has not yet been confirmed, and despite warnings from the North that it would take strong "countermeasures" if Japan went ahead with the new sanctions.
Because Japan's trade with North Korea is limited, Abe faced little domestic opposition to cutting it off. Tokyo already had limited sanctions in place against North Korea, imposed after the North test-fired seven missiles into waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula in July.
The new U.S. draft expresses says North Korea's claim to have tested a nuclear device represents "a clear threat to international peace and security." But it makes clear the Security Council would have to adopt a new resolution "should additional measures be necessary" against North Korea, such as military action.
The United States insisted the resolution fall under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter - which authorizes punishments ranging from breaking diplomatic ties and imposing economic sanctions to naval blockades and military actions - because of the gravity of North Korea's action.
China only wanted measures under Article 41 of Chapter 7, which authorizes nonmilitary sanctions such as economic penalties, breaking diplomatic relations and banning air travel.
The new draft states that the Security Council would act under Chapter 7 and only take measures under Article 41.
The U.S. proposal keeps the requirement that all countries prevent the sale or transfer of luxury goods and material and technology which could contribute to North Korea's nuclear, ballistic missile or other weapons of mass destruction-related programs.
Also like the previous draft, the new draft demands that North Korea immediately return to nuclear talks without preconditions, and "not conduct any further nuclear test or launch of a ballistic missile."
The latest draft keeps a financial freeze on individuals and entities with any connection to North Korea's weapons or missile programs, as well as a travel ban on those associated with the programs. But it changes the focus of the provision on inspections.
There is concern among some diplomats that boarding North Korean ships could lead to a military response from the North, and Beijing and Moscow objected to a provision authorizing the inspection of cargo going in and out of North Korea, council diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because talks are private.
In the new draft, the measure is softened by authorizing only "cooperative action including through inspection of cargo ... in particular to prevent illicit trafficking in nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, their means of delivery and related materials."
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 83 CommentsArab refugees were INTENTIONALLY not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, the Arabs are the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own peoples' lands. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a country smaller than the state of New Jersey.
12. The Arab - Israeli Conflict: The Arabs are represented by 22 independent states, There is only one Jewish nation. The Arab nations initiated all five wars and lost. Israel defended herself each time and won.
13. The PLO's Charter still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. In the 1990s Israel gave the Palestinians most of the West Bank land,
14. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to places of worship.
15. The U.N. was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed
The U.N are silent while Muslim terrorists blew up schools, mall's, bus's, and Synagogues killing babies, children and adults. The media reports are almost non existant in regards to the hundreds of families each year who cry for their dead as they hold their bloodied babies in their arms.. The world tells them to put up with the agression against them and condems Israel trying to protect itself.
America struck back when 3000 died in the Sep 11th disaster, Jews have disasters happen every day of their lives.
4. The Arabs Muslims conquered Palestine in 635 AD, stealing it from its legitimate Jewish rulers, Palestine was stolen from the Jews by the Muslims and not the other way around. Arab sovereignty over Palestine ended in 1071 when the area was conquered by Seljuk Turks. Palestinian Arabs never held sovereignty over and cannot even pronounce the name of their supposed homeland.
5. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit.
6. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Qur'an (Koran).
7. King David founded the Jewish city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.
8. Arab and Jewish Refugees: In 1948 the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews. Sixty-eight percent left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier.
9. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab Muslim lands due to Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms.
A FEW UNFASHIONABLE FACTS WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST
The Arabs Stole Palestine from the Jews, and not the other way around!
By Steven Plaut
1. Nationhood and Jerusalem. Although Israel was a nation before 1312B.C, Israel became a nation-state in 1312 B.C, 2,000 years before the rise of Islam.
2. Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel.
When the Jews started returning to their own country in 1948, the land was pretty devoid of permanant occupants, which consisted of some Jews (who had never left) and a few Arab nomads. It was only then that a few poor migrant workers from the surrounding Muslim countries began to flood in to work for the Jews. almost all of the people calling themselves "Palestinians" today are the descendants of those migrant workers.
3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 B.C., the Jews have had dominion over the land for 1,000 years with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years and beyond.
Muslims fire rocket-propelled grenades into schools full of children in Israel. ....No Muslim outrage.
Muslims murder more than 50 commuters in attacks on London subways and busses. Over 700 are injured..... No Muslim outrage.
Muslims massacre dozens of innocents at a Passover Seder..... No Muslim outrage.
Muslim newspapers publish anti-Semitic cartoons..... No Muslim outrage
Muslims are involved, on one side or the other, in almost every one of the 125+ shooting wars around the world..... No Muslim outrage.
Muslims beat the charred bodies of Western civilians with their shoes, then hang them from a bridge..... No Muslim outrage.
A couple of years ago, Nigerian Christians endured 1,500 to 2,000 massacres by militant Islamists - 269 churches being burnt to the ground and 60,000 to 65,000 people being displaced..... No Muslim outrage....
However, there has been over 6000 terrorist attacks since sep 11th, many in Israel.
%u2022 Muslims fly commercial airliners into buildings in New York City....... No Muslim outrage.
%u2022 Muslim officials block the exit where school girls are trying to escape a burning building because their faces were exposed. No Muslim outrage.
%u2022 Muslims cut off the heads of three teenaged girls on their way to school in Indonesia. A Christian school...... No Muslim outrage.
%u2022 A Muslim attacks a missionary children's school in India. Kills six. ....No Muslim outrage.
%u2022 Muslims slaughter hundreds of children and teachers in Beslan, Russia. Muslims shoot children in the back..... No Muslim outrage.
%u2022 Let's go way back. Muslims kidnap and kill jewish athletes at the Munich Summer Olympics..... No Muslim outrage.
BOYCOTT CHINA!
We need to continue to work with North Korea's neighbors to reach a solution. China needs to do more because North Korea is to China as Cuba was to the Soviet Union. China has tremendous influence over NK....... we and the others in the hood need to keep pressing/talking until we reach a solution.....
Why aren't Americans even thinking about removing the occupying troops from Korea?
Every empire so far ends badly; because they are evil by design. Must we follow the self-destructive pattern?
We favor the Germans re-uniting their people; so why not the Koreans?
There is so much we can go at home to advance the well being of our people and nation; yet we waste time, energy, and resources being a lightning rod for destruction around the planet? How freaking stupid is that?
China is thousands of years old. And they have created far less enemies than the US.
We should learn from a mature culture on how to be 'inward looking'. It is a wiser path to travel in life.
Fat chance!
The highly intelligent Chinese have been playing us. LOL
If the US can't get the Chinese and Russians to institute foolish and meaningless sactions on Korea, all the misguided souls among need to understand that
THE US CANNOT CONTEMPLATE MILITARY ACTION AGAINST KOREA AS LONG AS THE CHINESE REMAIN THEIR STAUNCH ALLY!
So bush can proffer his big Texas bluster to delude the American people that he's high and mighty. If he continues to be super power-drunk, then the American people had better not forget 911.
At the end of the day, Korea joins the nuke club as member #9 and we eat big Texas crows.
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