U.S., Chinese Officials Consider Warning North Korea Against Nuclear Weapons Test

The U.S. point man on the North Korea nuclear crisis said today in Beijing that he and his Chinese counterpart discussed the possibility of issuing a warning to Pyongyang that it should not conduct an atomic weapons test, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 5).

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said he and Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei discussed the need to make clear that a test “would be a very, very unwelcome development.”

Hill said he and Wu also discussed a U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on the North for its July 5 missile launches.

“I made it very clear that the United States would be pursuing our obligations,” he said.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, however, warned that sanctions “may even prove counterproductive.”

“The parties involved should be cautious about moving towards sanctions,” he said.

Hill accused Pyongyang of refusing to cooperate by boycotting multilateral nuclear negotiations.

“Clearly we are in a very difficult moment in the six-party talks,” he said.  “That’s because (North Korea) is not giving any signals that it wants to return” (Audra Ang, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 6).

Japanese Defense Minister Nukaga Fukushiro said yesterday that North Korea is unlikely to conduct nuclear weapons or more missile tests soon, Yonhap News Agency reported.

“I do not believe we are in a situation facing an imminent underground nuclear test by North Korea,” Fukushiro told NHK broadcasting (Yonhap News Agency, Sept. 6).

Meanwhile, a train reportedly carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has turned back from the country’s border with China, Agence France-Presse reported today.

Satellite imagery showed the train moving south from the border town of Shinuiju yesterday, Yonhap quoted South Korean government sources as saying.

“The exact location of Kim’s train will not be disclosed but we can say that there is no sign of his impending trip to China,” an official said (Agence France-Presse, Sept. 6).

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