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North Korea: Security Council Delays Action on Korean Nuclear Crisis The Security Council yesterday held its first formal meeting on North Korea’s nuclear program since a crisis heightened over the issue last month, when Pyongyang announced it was withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Instead of taking any immediate action, the council decided to refer the issue to another group of experts (see GSN, Feb. 19). The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors last week found North Korea was in “noncompliance” with its IAEA safeguards commitments and referred the matter to the United Nations (see GSN, Feb. 12). After a brief closed-door consultation, German U.N. Ambassador Gunter Pleuger, this month’s Security Council president, said council members were taking the IAEA report to their own national experts so that they may “draw their substantial and legal conclusions and make their recommendations to the members of the council. On that basis the council will take the matter up and discuss it.” Calling the possibility of North Korea restarting its nuclear weapons program “an important and very complicated issue,” Pleuger said, “The council wanted to refer this to the experts first before discussing it in the council itself.” There is no deadline for the experts to report back to the council, he added. U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador James Cunningham said, “We look forward to working with our colleagues on the council on finding a way to achieve a verifiable and irreversible dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear program.” He rejected the North Korean contention that the issue should be dealt with bilaterally between Pyongyang and Washington. This is “a matter of concern to the entire international community,” he said (Jim Wurst, Global Security Newswire, Feb. 20). Powell Begins Asian Trip Tomorrow U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is scheduled to leave tomorrow for Japan, China and South Korea to discuss the nuclear standoff and attend the inauguration ceremony of South Korean President-elect Roh Moo-hyun, the Associated Press reported. It will be his first visit to the region since the latest crisis began, according to AP. Roh, meanwhile, said that he would oppose any plans to attack North Korea. The president-elect said he is “willing to differ with the United States … if that helps prevent a war.” “An attack on North Korea could trigger a war engulfing the entire Korean Peninsula,” Roh said. “It’s a serious issue, and at this moment, I am against even consideration of such an option,” he added (George Gedda, Associated Press/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Feb. 20). Powell’s Methods Powell has chosen not to take such trips as often as some of his predecessors and some critics charge that his diplomatic style relies too much on telephone conversations, the Washington Post reported today. Powell reportedly canceled a trip late last year to Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing and has not made any solo diplomatic visits lasting more than two days since last September, according to the Post. Experts said that, in general, longer trips allow officials more time to appreciate the nuances of complicated relationships and issues. Senior officials from Washington should “go to smaller countries and persuade them,” said a diplomat from an East European country that has supported the White House on its Iraq confrontation. “You’ve got Powell and (national security adviser Condoleezza) Rice on TV. Why didn’t they go to Europe … you should have been all over Europe. It’s been missing,” the diplomat added (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, Feb. 20). For further information, see: States Parties to the NPT (U.N.)
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