U.S. pushes for sanctions against N. Korea

SEOUL, South Korea – The United States is moving to impose sanctions on North Korea in accordance with a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted following the North’s missile launches in July, a senior South Korean official said today.

However, the U.S. push for sanctions could be thwarted if North Korea returns to the deadlocked international talks aimed at ending the communist nation’s nuclear program, the official told the Associated Press. The official, who is involved in the talks, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The North test-fired seven missiles in early July over international objections, prompting the U.N. Security Council to unanimously adopt a resolution condemning its actions.

The resolution bans all U.N. member states from transactions with North Korean involving material or technology for missiles or weapons of mass destruction. It also says that countries should take steps to prevent the transfer of any financial resources that could be connected to the North’s weapons programs.

“The United States will slap sanctions on the North,” said the official, adding that Washington has already informed all countries, including South Korea, of how to implement the resolution.

South Korea, which had voiced its opposition to sanctioning its northern neighbor and largely maintained its policy of engagement, will “do what it needs to do,” the official said today, indicating Seoul will join the sanctions.

The comments come a day after the top U.S. nuclear negotiator, Christopher Hill, held talks with South Korean security officials about how to end the nuclear impasse. Hill proposed a meeting of North Korea’s neighbors and other regional powers on the sidelines of the upcoming meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, according to South Korean officials.

In 1999, Washington eased 50-year-old economic sanctions against North Korea in exchange for Pyongyang establishing a moratorium on long-range missile tests, one year after the North stunned the world by launching a long-range missile over Japan. The North broke that self-imposed moratorium with its July launches, which included a long-range missile believed capable of reaching parts of the U.S. that exploded shortly after takeoff.