Japan keeps up pressure for UN sanctions on N Korea

TOKYO - Japan held out on Friday for a UN resolution that would impose sanctions on North Korea for its missile tests, and said an alternative resolution proposed by China and Russia did not go far enough.

It was unclear, however, whether Japan and its close security ally, the United States, were set for a showdown or a compromise with Beijing and Moscow over the missile launches, which in one short week have split regional powers over how to respond.

Foreign Minister Taro Aso talked of giving ground.

"It is common sense that both sides cannot achieve a perfect grade so both sides have to compromise so they can be satisfied," Aso told a news conference.

However, he said reports that negotiations were moving towards the China-Russia proposal were "totally wrong".

He said Japan still wanted the Security Council to adopt its resolution, which has been sponsored by seven other countries, including the United States. That resolution would impose sanctions on Pyongyang for its salvo of missile tests last week.

The alternative Chinese-Russian text calls on UN members to exercise vigilance rather than insisting they prevent the supply of materials and technologies to North Korea's missile programme.

"China and Russia have come closer, but it is far from sufficient," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told Reuters in an interview.

"We will continue to insist on a binding resolution with sanctions," added Abe, who is in charge of coordinating government policy and is also Japan's top government spokesman.

Abe said later that Tokyo and Washington agreed on the need for the Security Council to vote soon. "Japan and the United States agreed a binding resolution including sanctions should be put to the vote promptly," he told a news conference.

US ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer told reporters after meeting Abe that Washington and Tokyo were committed to having a "strong statement coming out of New York that this action must not be repeated on the part of the North Koreans".

However, he declined to give a direct reply when asked if that meant Washington still insisted on mandatory sanctions.

If no agreement is reached, the 15-member UN Security council could face a split.

China, one of the five permanent members with veto power, has said it would vote against the Japan-led resolution.

South Korea said on Friday that it would send Vice Foreign Minister Lee Kyu-hyung to China for two days from Saturday, while its chief envoy to the six-party talks, Chun Yung-woo, was to head to Washington on Sunday before travelling on to Tokyo.

Seoul's move came after Pyongyang stormed out of a meeting with the South on Thursday and US envoy Christopher Hill left the region, ending a week of shuttle diplomacy.

China, the North's biggest backer, has had scant success in persuading Pyongyang to revive its moratorium on missile launches and return to six-country talks on its nuclear programmes.

The six-party talks - involving the two Koreas, the US, Japan, Russia and China - stalled last November after Pyongyang objected to US financial sanctions based on accusations that it counterfeited US currency and trafficked drugs.

- REUTERS