US refuses to rule out force over Korean nuclear tests

13 April 2012

US ambassador to the UN John Bolton has refused to rule out force as the debate over North Korea's nuclear tests intensifies.

The move comes as Britain reiterated it would push for a "robust response" to the claimed test-firing of a nuclear weapon.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said today that the test jeopardised regional stability in north east Asia and posed "a clear threat" to international peace and security.

She told the Commons: "That an explosion of significant magnitude occurred is not in question, but the exact nature of the explosion has not yet been independently verified by the identification of radioactive particles."

However, given North Korea's stated intention to conduct such a test, the international community was proceeding on the basis that it had done so, she added.

Mrs Beckett continued: "The world has been united in its condemnation of North Korea's action, which was carried out in direct defiance of the will of the international community."

And she warned: "The UK will be pushing for a robust response given the clear threat posed to international peace and security by the test."

The Foreign Secretary was responding to an urgent question from her Tory shadow, William Hague.

The UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution that proposes strict financial and trade sanctions.

Bolton has said that while the US would never rule out the use of force, they are seeking a diplomatic solution to the crisis through the UN.

"What we're seeking in this resolution in the wake of their nuclear test, is to strengthen... sanctions, make them more comprehensive, make it harder - hopefully impossible - for North Korea to proceed down the road to becoming a nuclear power with delivery capability," he said.

"That would involve a range of things, cutting off their access to sensitive technology and materials, going after the financial network that exists to help them fund this sort of activity, and a range of other things as well."

The US wants to see the sanctions brought under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, which means they would be mandatory and ultimately enforceable by military means.

In his first public statement since the reported test, US President Bush said the North Korean claim "constitutes a threat to international peace and security."

Meanwhile, China is taking steps to encourage North Korea to return to six-party talks on ending its nuclear programme, a day after Pyongyang said it had conducted a nuclear test.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular news briefing that North Korea had ignored international opinion in carrying out the test, which he said had damaged bilateral relations.

He said the U.N. Security Council should take action against North Korea but that China was still considering what that action should be.

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