Global Policy Forum

By Warren Hoge and Joseph Kahn

China and Russia introduced a draft resolution on North Korea in the Security Council on Wednesday and asked the Council's members to consider it in place of a Japanese-sponsored resolution, to which they both have objected, that would have allowed for military enforcement and sanctions. In offering the new measure, Wang Guangya, the Chinese ambassador, said he had instructions from his government to veto the Japanese resolution if it were put to a vote. Japan and its resolution's co-sponsors, Britain, France and the United States, have been putting off a vote this week at the request of China, which said action by the Council would interfere with a Chinese diplomatic mission now in North Korea.

In Beijing, an American official praised China's diplomatic efforts and called for a unified response to North Korea's missile tests, but it was clear that fissures between the main Asian powers had overshadowed any common stance that might put pressure on North Korea. Christopher R. Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, held talks in Beijing but prepared to return to Washington on Thursday morning without any sign that North Korea was prepared to return to six-nation disarmament talks. He called North Korea's stance "discouraging."

The new Chinese-Russian draft resolution covers many of the same demands on North Korea that the Japanese-drafted measure does, but it significantly does so without resorting to Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, which would allow for military enforcement, and without proposing sanctions against North Korea for noncompliance. China and Russia had opposed those aspects of the original measure, saying they would destabilize the region and be viewed by North Korea as a provocation.

The text of the Chinese-Russian resolution "strongly deplores" last week's North Korean tests, calls on member states to work to prevent North Korea from receiving or selling missile-related items and "strongly urges" it to return without precondition to the six-nation talks.

Kenzo Oshima, the Japanese ambassador, said his government needed time to judge the new text. "But a quick glance at the text shows there are very serious gaps on very important issues," he said. He did not specify them.

John R. Bolton, the American ambassador, said the United States still backed the Japanese resolution but welcomed the new measure because it was in the form of a resolution rather than a nonbinding presidential statement that the Chinese and Russians had earlier insisted was sufficient. He said it "puts us on an apples-to-apples and oranges-to-oranges basis and now we can talk about a resolution, which is the appropriate measure through which the Security Council should act."

China, which has engaged in intensive talks with North Korea in recent days, said sanctions imposed on North Korea last fall by the United States Treasury Department must be lifted before North Korea would resume discussions about its weapons programs. "We hope the U.S. can take measures to help the six-nation talks resume by compromising on the sanctions," said Liu Jianchao, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman. "We don't want to see this impasse drag on forever."

The Treasury Department in October seized the American assets of eight North Korean companies it accused of helping proliferate weapons and imposed sanctions on Banco Delta Asia of Macao, accused of helping to launder North Korean money.

Mr. Hill, speaking to reporters on Wednesday afternoon, reiterated the Bush administration's position that financial sanctions would not be eased until North Korea stopped its nuclear weapons and long-range missile programs and ended efforts to counterfeit American currency. "We have a country that seems to be more interested in missiles than providing electricity or food for its people," he said. "We are looking for ways to prevent'' North Korea "from financing these activities, and frankly that's what we should be doing."

The six-nation talks reached a preliminary accord calling for North Korean nuclear disarmament last September but have since foundered, with North Korea declining to participate in multilateral discussions while the United States imposes sanctions. Japan, South Korea and Russia are also involved in the talks. China's call to ease financial sanctions suggests that it is still occupying the middle ground between the United States and North Korea, or even tilting slightly toward North Korea despite its missile tests.

North Korea defied appeals from China as well as the United States and other major powers when it test-fired the seven missiles last week. Bush administration officials clearly hoped that the tests, which appeared to come as a surprise to China, would prompt it to take a much tougher approach to North Korea, its Communist ally and neighbor. So far, however, China appears to be sticking to its role as honest broker, hoping to maintain close relations with both parties and pushing them toward direct talks.

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