Translated material
North Korea plus thirty
Pyongyang begins life under sanctions regime
According to the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Muhammad ElBaradei, within a “very short time” up to 30 countries could become “virtually new nuclear states” with the technology to create nuclear weapons. The Director General announced this yesterday in Vienna at an IAEA symposium on measures to improve control over the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). ElBaradei did not specifically mention any of the candidates for the “nuclear club”.However, even one newcomer with a nuclear bomb can create serious problems for the world community. UN Security Council Resolution 1718, adopted on Saturday, condemning North Korea's nuclear tests, did not force Pyongyang to back down. Yesterday, the head of the North Korean Parliament, Kim Yong Nam, called the October 9 nuclear test a “new countermeasure” by the United States, which “stepped the line in the policy of strangulation and isolation” of the DPRK.
However, the situation around North Korea is already changing. Customs officials in China, North Korea's largest trading partner, have been thoroughly inspecting all trucks crossing the border between the two countries since yesterday, something they did not do last week. The UN Security Council resolution ordered tightening control over cargo moving to and from the DPRK for the detection of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their components.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that she was mindful of concerns expressed by “a number of countries, most notably China,” that inspections of North Korean cargo could “lead to an increased threat of open conflict in the region.” Rice acknowledged that it is not yet clear how the provisions of the resolution will be implemented to prevent Pyongyang from importing and exporting materials and technologies suitable for creating weapons of mass destruction and means of delivering them. According to the Secretary of State, “we are talking about a very powerful tool” for influencing the DPRK, and therefore it is necessary to “very seriously discuss the issue of how to implement this part of the resolution.”
Tomorrow in Tokyo, Rice will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Aso. On Thursday, Rice and Aso will fly to Seoul, where they will confer for several days with South Korean Foreign and Trade Minister Ban Ki-moon, who was elected the new UN Secretary-General last week. From Seoul, Ms. Rice will head to Beijing. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and head of the US delegation to the six-party talks Christopher Hill yesterday prepared his boss's visit to Tokyo, and today he will do the same in Seoul. According to Hill, the outcome of Rice's trip should be "not only a confirmation of the need to further strengthen the security of allies Japan and South Korea, but also a demonstration of unprecedented closeness of position with China."
The head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry promised Hill only “rear support” in inspecting North Korean cargo traveling by sea. The minister referred to Japanese legislation prohibiting forced inspections in extraterritorial waters. The issue of tightening restrictions on money transfers to the DPRK is currently being discussed in Tokyo. Previously, Japanese authorities banned all imports from the DPRK and the entry of its citizens, froze some accounts in banks cooperating with Pyongyang, and canceled calls by DPRK ships to Japanese ports for six months. Australia, another US ally in the Asia-Pacific region, also closed its ports to North Korean ships yesterday, calling the move "an additional contribution to the UN sanctions regime."
Seoul is less harsh, as confirmed by yesterday's telephone conversation between the presidents of Russia and South Korea, Vladimir Putin and Roh Moo-hyun. According to the Kremlin press service, they emphasized the importance of “coordinated efforts” and a “balanced policy” of the world community to peacefully resolve the situation after the nuclear test in the DPRK. Yesterday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov arrived in South Korea for a two-day visit. Despite the aggravation of the situation on the peninsula, he will continue with the South Korean Prime Minister, Ms. Han Myung-suk, to consider projects for restoring the Trans-Korean railway through the territory of the DPRK and its connection with the Russian Trans-Siberian Railway. The idea of unifying the power systems of the Russian Far East, North and South Korea is still being discussed.