hankyoreh

By Kwon Tae-ho, Washington correspondent and Park Min-hee, Beijing correspondent

The United States appears ready to immediately convene the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and further tighten sanctions against North Korea if Pyongyang launches a rocket carrying its Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite.

US Permanent Representative to the United Nations Susan Rice said that if the North went ahead with the launch, it would only deepen its own isolation, and that she expected the UNSC to convene and discuss the issue, according to CNN. This implies that the US expects the launch to be carried out and is preparing its response.

US Department of Defense spokesperson George Little said on Monday that he believed the North had moved forward with its long-range rocket launch plans over the last few days and appeared to be preparing the launch.

An official from the South Korean delegation to the UN said that if the rocket is launched, the UNSC may convene as early as the same day. This is what happened in 2006 and 2009 when the North launched long-range missiles. This month, the US holds the rotating presidency of the UNSC. If the council convenes, it is expected to confirm that North Korea has clearly violated UN Resolution 1874, which forbids the North from launching any rocket that uses ballistic missile technology. The US is also expected to issue a presidential statement condemning this.

The US has reportedly judged that such measures can no longer put adequate pressure on the North and is examining plans for additional sanctions. At a regular briefing on Monday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney stated that if the North went ahead with the long-range rocket launch and a third nuclear test, these would be regarded as provocative acts. At another regular briefing, Department of State Spokesperson Victoria Nuland said that acts of this kind will further isolate North Korea and make it harder to provide better lives for its people.

The US has also increased pressure on China. Rice has urged the North’s northern neighbor to play a role in the situation, while Nuland has said that the US was requesting that China do everything possible to prevent the launch. This implies that the US is applying indirect pressure on the North by way of China.

China’s difficulties, stuck as it is between North Korea and the US, are deepening. In an article contributed to Tuesday’s edition of the Global Times, Zhang Lian-gui of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China wrote that China had been confronted with a truly difficult test. If China voted in favor of a UNSC resolution following North Korea’s rocket launch, its relations with the North would deteriorate, he said, while it would be criticized as a mouthpiece for the North if it vetoed the UNSC vote. Jiang also pointed out that, if the North went as far as conducting a nuclear test, China would have to think hard about whether to maintain its existing policy toward the North, and about how to respond to criticism from the international community of its support for North Korea.

Russia’s response to the situation has deepened China’s predicament. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Tuesday that the rocket launch would violate a UNSC resolution. In a statement issued in mid-March, Russia stated that UNSC Resolution 1874 demanded that the North cease all launching of rockets that used ballistic missile technology, and claimed it did not matter whether the projectile was a missile of military character or a rocket carrier for civilian use.

Also on Tuesday, Ryu Kum-chol, of North Korea’s Committee for Space Technology, which is responsible for the launch, said at a briefing for foreign reporters in Pyongyang on Tuesday that all assembly and preparation for launching Kwangmyongsong-3 had been completed. He made no mention of whether the North had begun fueling the rocket.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]