United Nations – The world lined up against North Korea on Monday for staging a nuclear test denounced even by its key allies.
President Bush called it “a threat to international peace and security,” and the U.N. Security Council weighed severe sanctions to punish the impoverished communist nation.
There was no talk of military action. But after the reclusive regime announced it had set off an underground atomic explosion, the Security Council quickly condemned North Korea’s decision to flout a U.N. appeal to cancel the test.
Russia was the only country to say it had “no doubts” over the North Korean claim. The U.S. and other experts said the explosion was smaller than expected and that they had yet to confirm it was nuclear.
But the reaction of world governments reflected little doubt that they were treating the announcement as fact.
The 15-nation council urged Pyongyang to return to stalled talks, refrain from further tests and keep its pledge to scrap its clandestine weapons program.
Bush said the action “constitutes a threat to international peace and security” and requires “an immediate response” from the Security Council, though he stressed the U.S. remained committed to diplomacy.
The United States circulated a draft U.N. resolution late Monday that would condemn North Korea’s nuclear test and impose tough sanctions on the nation for Pyong yang’s “flagrant disregard” of the Security Council’s appeal not to detonate a device.
The draft, obtained by The Associated Press, incorporates proposals circulated by the U.S. earlier in the day to prohibit all trade in military and luxury goods and crack down on illegal financial dealings.
It adds new calls from Japan to ban all countries from allowing North Korean ships in their ports or North Korean aircraft from taking off or landing in their territory if they carried arms-related material or luxury goods.
In addition, the Japanese proposals would impose travel restrictions on high-ranking North Korean officials, create a Security Council committee to monitor implementation of the sanctions, and ask the secretary-general “to actively engage in this matter.”
The U.S. draft also seeks to prevent any North Korean financial transactions resulting from illicit counterfeiting, money laundering and narcotics, and “any abuses of the international financial system” that could contribute to the transfer or development of banned weapons.
Council experts were expected to meet again this morning.
It was unclear whether China and Russia – the North’s closest allies – would support some of the tough measures, which also include inspection of all cargo en route to and leaving North Korea.
The U.S., France, Britain and Japan want the resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which deals with threats to international peace, breaches of the peace and acts of aggression.
It allows the council to authorize measures ranging from breaking diplomatic ties and imposing economic and military sanctions to taking military action to restore peace.
With U.S. forces strapped by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush administration repeatedly has said it has no plans to invade North Korea, and discussion of military action was absent Monday.
The reported test came one day after the ninth anniversary of reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s accession to power and a day before the 61st anniversary of the ruling North Korean Workers’ Party.
AP Television News footage showed North Koreans going about their daily business, and there were no signs of heightened alert by security forces.
Pak Gil Yon, the North’s U.N. ambassador, said the Security Council should congratulate the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, known as the DPRK, instead of passing “useless” resolutions or statements.
“The nuclear test in the DPRK will greatly contribute in increasing the world deterrence of the DPRK” and will contribute “to the maintenance and guarantee of peace and security in the peninsula and the region,” he said.
