UNITED
NATIONS: The UN Security Council has
ordered tightened sanctions on North Korea over its failed rocket launch and
warned of new action if the isolated state stages a nuclear test.
The
15-member council -- including the North's closest ally China and nuclear-armed
Pakistan -- "strongly condemned" the launch in a statement that
highlighted "grave security concerns" in Asia.
The
move came as Pyongyang reportedly said it would not allow International Atomic
Energy Agency inspectors to examine its nuclear programme -- a key part of a
deal reached with the US in February that would have seen the transfer of
thousands of tonnes of much-needed food aid to the impoverished state.
At a
meeting in New York on Monday the Security Council ordered new "entities
and items" to be added within two weeks to the sanctions committee list
created after North Korea staged nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.
It also
ordered the sanctions committee to revise the individuals and North Korean
firms subject to asset freezes under the international measures.
North
Korea's UN mission made no immediate comment on the Security Council action.
US
ambassador Susan Rice, the council president for April, said the sanctions
committee would draw up a list of new "proliferation sensitive
technology" to be banned for transfer to and from North Korea.
The
United States would propose a "robust package of new designations" to
the committee, Rice told reporters. This would include the names of companies
linked to North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
The
council said the launch of the rocket, which disintegrated over the Yellow Sea
shortly after blast off, was a "serious violation" of UN resolutions
1718 and 1874. The Security Council "strongly condemned" the act.
North
Korea said its rocket launch was to put a weather satellite into orbit, but the
United States and its allies said it was an attempt to test a missile launcher.
The
council demanded that North Korea hold back from new launches "using
ballistic missile technology," suspend "all activities related to its
ballistic missile program" and keep to its promised "moratorium on
missile launches."
"The
Security Council expresses its determination to take action accordingly in the
event of a further DPRK (North Korean) launch or nuclear test," said the
statement.
Japanese
and South Korean analysts and officials say satellite imagery showing
preparations at the North Korean town of Punggye-ri -- where nuclear blasts
were staged in 2006 and 2009 -- suggest a test could be imminent.
Rice
highlighted that it was a "fact of history" that rocket test launches
in 2006 and 2009 were soon followed by nuclear tests.
"Clearly
the potential for that pattern to persist is one that all members of the
international community are mindful of and think would be a disastrous course
for the North to pursue," she said.
US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the broad base of the international
response was significant.
"We
have all agreed -- that includes China -- that there will be further
consequences if they pursue another provocative action," Clinton told
reporters in Brasilia when asked if China would press North Korea to avoid a
nuclear test.
Seoul
also welcomed the agreement and urged the North to "stop provocations that
could threaten peace and security of the Korean peninsula and Northeast
Asia".
"The
North should clearly realise that the international community" had adopted
"a resolute and unified stance on its (rocket) launch," it said, and
also called for Pyongyang to honour existing UN resolutions.
Tokyo
hailed the Security Council move, saying North Korea should comply with UN
demands "and not conduct any further launches and nuclear tests or any
further provocative actions".
North
Korea appeared unbowed by the increasing diplomatic pressure, deciding to
suspend talks on allowing IAEA inspectors to return to monitor the suspension
of its uranium enrichment process at Yongbyon, Japan's Kyodo News reported from
Seoul.
The
report cited an unnamed "senior US State Department official" and
came as President Barack Obama's pointman on East Asia, Kurt Campbell, was in
Seoul as part of a tour of the region.
Under a
much-trumpeted agreement reached in February, the US had promised 240,000
tonnes of food aid for North Korea.
In
exchange, Washington had extracted promises that Pyongyang would suspend
enrichment of uranium and cancel nuclear and missile tests.
Abandoning
the agreement means North Korea will not feel bound by its terms -- and makes
it more likely it will pursue a third nuclear test, the Yomiuri Shimbun cited
sources as saying.
-
AFP/wm
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