Security Council 'to continue North Korea talks'

China’s UN ambassador said today that Security Council members have agreed to continue discussions on a Beijing-opposed resolution that would impose limited sanctions on North Korea for its recent missile tests.

“I think the members have different views so we agreed that we will continue consultations about that,” ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters after a meeting of envoys from China, Russia, the US, Britain, France and Japan.

Japan, which sponsored the resolution, has been pressing for a speedy vote on the resolution, but the Kyodo news agency reported that Tokyo had agreed to China’s request for a delay of several days.

France’s UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, the current council president, said there would be further consultations among council members tonight on when a vote will be held. He expected an announcement later.

The Japanese draft, under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter which allows military enforcement, demands that North Korea immediately stop developing, testing, deploying and selling ballistic missiles.

It also bans all UN member states from acquiring North Korean missiles or weapons of mass destruction – or the parts or technology to produce them – and orders all countries to take steps to prevent any material, technology or money for missile or weapons programmes from reaching the North.

The draft resolution also urges North Korea to immediately return to six-party talks on its nuclear programme with the US, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia. The talks have been stalled since September.

China, the North’s closest ally, and Russia, which has been trying to re-establish Soviet-era ties with Pyongyang, both oppose sanctions and have urged the Security Council to adopt a weaker presidential statement rather than a resolution.

“We feel that the best way for the Security Council is a PRST,” the ambassador said, using the initials for a presidential statement.

“If they wish to have a resolution, they should have a modified one, not this one.”