UN Security Council acts on concerns over North Korea

NEW YORK - The UN Security Council will meet next week for an initial round of closed-door discussions on the North Korea nuclear crisis.

The April 9 meeting will fall more than three months after North Korea announced its intention to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and more than six weeks after the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog, referred the matter to the council.

Scheduling of the meeting followed weeks of lobbying by the United States, which has been pressing the 15-nation council to get together to adopt a statement condemning North Korea.

Washington, hoping to bring international pressure to bear on North Korea, wants the council to criticise Pyongyang for failing to meet its international obligations to prevent the spread of nuclear arms and to urge it to return to compliance.

China, North Korea's closest ally, has until now resisted a council meeting, pushing instead for a direct dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang to resolve the crisis.

"We have agreed on holding consultations on the 9th. You'll just have to wait to see the outcome," US Ambassador John Negroponte said after a four-hour closed-door meeting at which the council adopted its work programme for April.

"We have decided we would have consultations, but I don't know what will be accomplished," Chinese Ambassador Wang Yingfan said.

The Security Council has the power to punish nations for violating international anti-proliferation treaties. For example, it could impose economic sanctions on Pyongyang. However, North Korea has warned that it would view sanctions as a "declaration of war".

It says the crisis can be resolved only through bilateral talks with Washington that would lead to a new non-aggression pact between the two nations.

The United States has 37,000 troops in South Korea and President George W Bush has lumped North Korea with Iraq and Iran as part of an "axis of evil".

Pyongyang has vowed to resist all international demands on it to allow nuclear inspections or to disarm.

It said Iraq had made this mistake and was now paying the price.

The crisis in North Korea was triggered by steps taken by its Government in recent months in an apparent effort to revive its mothballed nuclear weapons programme.

It became the first country to pull out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

It kicked out UN inspectors and shut down UN surveillance cameras at its Yongbyon nuclear facilities capable of producing plutonium for nuclear bombs.

- REUTERS