The United States has been pushing the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to unanimously condemn North Korea for withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty but has met Chinese resistance, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, March 13).

U.S. officials last week arranged a meeting of the permanent members to negotiate a council statement on North Korea, but only U.S., French and British representatives attended, AP reported.

“We are trying to ask (the council) to understand that diplomatic efforts (are) going on and we do see the possibility that we could bring the parties together for a dialogue,” Chinese U.N. Ambassador Wang Yingfan said.  “So we do not wish at this stage that there should be the involvement of the Security Council,” he said (Edith Lederer, Associated Press/Philadelphia Inquirer, March 14).

Beijing is apparently supporting North Korea’s call for direct negotiations with Washington while Moscow remains undecided, Reuters reported.

U.S. President George W. Bush told South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun that the United States is still committed to multilateral talks.

A South Korean official said his government will work to close a “perception gap” between foreigners who are more nervous about the current crisis and many South Koreans, who are not.

“We know the situation better than others,” said South Korean Finance Minister Kim Jin-pyo.

North Korea, meanwhile, might be only weeks from launching a Rodong missile, which has not happened since August 1998, according to Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun (Eckert/Wilson, Reuters, March 14).

Surveillance Flights Resume

The United States has restarted surveillance flights near North Korea and the U.S. aircraft have not been bothered by North Korean forces, according to Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of U.S. Pacific forces.  The flights resumed Wednesday and had been suspended after North Korean fighter jets intercepted a U.S. aircraft March 2, AP reported.

“We retain our right to fly these unarmed surveillance and reconnaissance flights in international airspace, as we do throughout the world,” Fargo told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The Pentagon is taking “prudent measures” to ensure the safety of the flights, Fargo said (Associated Press/Baltimore Sun, March 14).

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