U.S. Maintains Push for More North Korea Sanctions

The United States plans to continue its drive to impose fresh sanctions on North Korea in response to its July missile tests, despite objections from some neighboring countries, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 6).

China, Russia and South Korea fear that further penalties could push Pyongyang toward testing a nuclear weapon, according to AFP.

Former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg warned yesterday that new sanctions would be “likely to lift the already dangerous situation on the Korean Peninsula to a new level of tension.”

“With the possible exception of Japan, these friendly governments believe that a major new drive to further isolate the Pyongyang regime would be a move in the wrong direction,” Gregg and Don Oberdorfer, chairman of the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, wrote in a Washington Post commentary.

“What is needed is sustained engagement to persuade Pyongyang to return to the regional talks and cease its confrontational actions — not new sanctions that will make such a course even more difficult,” they said.

The U.S. State Department said the push for sanctions was in line with a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the North’s missile tests.

“I always find very interesting this argument that somehow it is the fault of the United States or others when somebody else takes a step that is deeply provocative,” said department spokesman Sean McCormack.

“The international community has spoken with one voice; in this case 15-0 on the Security Council resolution.  So it’s pretty clear where the modification in behavior is needed,” McCormack said (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, Sept. 6).

China, meanwhile, announced today that it still does not support sanctions against North Korea, AFP reported (Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, Sept. 7).

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