WASHINGTON, July 10 (Yonhap) — Diplomatic focus shifted from the United Nations to China on Monday as the Security Council postponed a vote on a North Korea resolution to give Beijing a chance to negotiate a compromise with Pyongyang.
In the meantime, a U.S. official was to hurry back to the Chinese capital on Tuesday, apparently to closely watch the results of the Beijing-Pyongyang negotiations.
“We have agreed that we will not press for a vote today,” U.S. envoy to the United Nations John Bolton told reporters.
But he said the suspension “won’t be indefinite.”
The postponement came after China asked Japan to hold off the vote, at least until its high-powered delegation had a chance to talk to leaders in Pyongyang. A “friendship” delegation led by a deputy premier was visiting North Korea starting Monday for roughly a week.
China’s initiative coincides with consultations among Security Council members to pass a resolution condemning and sanctioning North Korea for its missile tests last week. The communist regime had launched seven ballistic missiles, including its long-range Taepodong-2, in the course of 24 hours.
The indigenous Taepodong-2 is believed to be able to strike the U.S. west coast.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington and its allies wanted to see if the North Koreans can be “convinced” by the Chinese, who wield “considerable influence” with Pyongyang.
“…We do think that the Chinese mission to North Korea has some promise and we would like to let that play out,” she said.
The U.N. resolution, drafted by Japan, prohibits countries from transferring funds, material and technology that North Korean could use to bolster its nuclear and missile programs.
England, France, Peru, Denmark, Slovakia and Greece and the U.S. have so far con-sponsored the resolution.
It invokes a chapter of the U.N. Charter that allows even military action if the global body determines international peace is under threat.
China and Russia oppose any reference to sanctions and want a milder-toned version.
“If they want to have a resolution, they should have a modified one, not this one,” Chinese envoy Wang Guangya said after a morning session of the council’s five permanent members.
Reuters said China circulated a Security Council “policy statement” late Monday that maintains much of the language in the Japanese draft but without making it legally binding.
The statement says it “calls upon” rather than “demands” nations to withhold technology and funds for North Korea’s weapons programs.
Beijing and Moscow are two of the five permanent members and have veto powers that would block the resolution’s passage. At least nine votes and no vetoes are required for the passage. Permanent members can also abstain.
Amb. Bolton said the Chinese “surely have been embarrassed” by North Korea’s missile launch that took place in spite of Beijing’s call for restraint.
“…I think this is entirely an exercise of Chinese diplomacy,” he said. “…In part, the consideration of our withholding from pressing for a vote today is really based on their representation last week as to what they think the impact of the mission can be.”
News reports from Japan said Tokyo and Washington are willing to abandon the resolution if Pyongyang agrees to come back to the six-party talks and re-pledge its missile moratorium.
The six-party talks involve South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan and aim at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. They’ve been stalled since November.
Bolton wouldn’t comment directly on these reports and only said he wants to look at the developments on a “day-by-day basis.”
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, almost winding up his Asia trip, was to fly back to Beijing on Tuesday from Tokyo.
“She (Secretary Rice) asked him to go to Beijing for some further consultations,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Hill, who doubles as Washington’s top delegate to the six-party talks, has been calling on the regional countries to send a single, united message to Pyongyang that the international community will not accept its nuclear and missile threats.
