World

U.S. Offers Milder North Korea Resolution

October 13, 2006 / 3:49 AM EDT / CBS/AP

The United Nations Security Council was to continue discussing Thursday a new, U.S.-authored, draft resolution to punish North Korea for its claimed nuclear test.

The sanctions in the new draft seek to ban travel by people involved in the regime's weapons program, but soften some other measures in an effort to win Russian and Chinese support.

The latest U.S. proposal, obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday night, would still require countries to freeze all assets related to North Korea's weapons and missile programs. But a call to freeze assets from other illicit activities such as "counterfeiting, money-laundering or narcotics" was dropped.

So was a call to prevent "any abuses of the international financial system" that could contribute to the transfer or development of banned weapons.

A previous U.S. draft called on all states to inspect cargo to and from North Korea to ensure compliance with sanctions. The new draft would allow states to inspect cargo "as necessary."

Also dropped were Japanese demands to prohibit North Korean ships from entering any port, and North Korean aircraft from taking off or landing in any country. These sanctions would likely face strong Russian and Chinese opposition.

The United States hopes to pass a resolution on North Korea by Friday, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said, but Russia and China have been reluctant to punish their impoverished neighbor too severely.

The new draft remains under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which includes a range of measures to deal with threats to international peace and conflicts from breaking diplomatic relations to imposing naval blockades and taking military action.

It again requires all member states to prevent the sale or transfer of arms, luxury goods, and material and technology which could contribute to North Korea's nuclear, ballistic missile or other weapons of mass destruction-related programs.

Bolton said there are still "areas of disagreement," and the United States is prepared for further discussion but it wants "a strong and swift response" by the end of the week.

Amid feverish diplomacy to bring that Friday wish to fruition, an envoy of Chinese President Hu Jintao met in Washington on Thursday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

China's State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan also met National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley met at the White House, according to White House spokesman Frederick Jones. No further details were provided.

In China, the foreign ministry said China and the United States were discussing a possible visit to Beijing by Rice.

Tang was also expected to meet with Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. envoy to stalled North Korean nuclear negotiations.

Similar to the previous draft, the latest proposed resolution asserts that the situation in North Korea, in particular its purported nuclear test, "constitutes a clear threat to international peace and security."

"With North Korea increasing the threats if the U.N. acts to impose sanctions — and Iran's government equally defiant — the Security Council is in the hot seat to prevent an international nuclear arms race," says CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk. "But the proposed resolution has had an uphill battle getting support from China on enforcement provisions because, at the heart of the debate, is the fundamental question of whether it would be more effective to pressure or to engage Pyongyang."

President Bush, during a Wednesday Rose Garden news conference at the White House, again refused to hold direct talks with North Korea.

Mr. Bush argued that Pyongyang would be more likely to listen when facing the protests of many nations.

However, a chorus of top diplomats, — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan becoming the most recent in a statement Wednesday — have criticized the outright refusal of the Bush administration to hold bilateral discussions with Pyongyang.

Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, said on CBS News' Early Show Thursday that Mr. Bush was right to focus on an economic-based, multi-nation solution to the North Korea standoff.

But, O'Hanlon also said he wasn't sure if that approach alone could work, and the administration was, "perhaps wrong" to not allow for direct dialogue with North Korea on the sidelines of the U.N. negotiations.

North Korea has repeatedly requested direct talks with Washington, and O'Hanlon indicated that backing the reclusive communist nation into a defensive corner, as even its one remaining friend, China, slowly withdraws its tentative support, may have an adverse effect.

"Perhaps it's wrong to not give the North Koreans a little bit of face," O'Hanlon said.

He added that unless the U.S. can convince Pyongyang that there is a "genuine willingness" to help the country's economy develop, "I don't think the sanction approach is going to go too far."

O'Hanlon said that was on account of South Korea's and China's reluctance to harshly penalize their immediate neighbor, which, regardless of nuclear means, has at its command an army more than 1 million strong and a host of conventional weapons.

In other developments:

China on Thursday reiterated that the United Nations needed to make it clear that North Korea's claimed nuclear test is a "wrong practice," but did not commit to backing harsh sanctions against the regime. "It's necessary to express clearly to North Korea that the nuclear test is the wrong practice and ... and the international community is opposed to this nuclear test," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a regular briefing. But, he added "punishment should not be the purpose" of any action taken by the United Nations in response to the test. "The measures taken (by the U.N.) should be conducive to the de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula and to bringing about peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and the resumption of the talks," he said.

Japan's ruling party on Thursday supported banning the North's ships from Japanese waters, defying a reported warning from the communist nation that sanctions would provoke "strong countermeasures." Japan's tough unilateral measures were expected to be approved by the Cabinet on Friday.

South Korea's parliament on Thursday passed a resolution condemning North Korea's claimed nuclear test and urged the communist nation to return to stalled international negotiations over its nuclear program. "North Korea's claims to have conducted a nuclear test and possess nuclear weapons cannot be tolerated, and all responsibilities lie with North Korea," said the nonbinding resolution, which passed in a 150-18 vote, with 16 abstentions.

North Korea on Thursday condemned a U.S. move to finance anti-Pyongyang broadcasters in South Korea as an "intolerable provocation" against the North, and called for an end to the transmissions. The announcement added to already heightened tensions between the international community and North Korea.