North Korea

North Korea Watch: United States Supports Bilateral Talks with North Korea

July 8, 2006 /

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U.S. envoy to the six-party talks Christopher Hill, 2nd right, meets his South Korean counterpart Chun Young-woo as U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow, right, participates in Seoul, on Saturday July 8, 2006.

AP: U.S. offers bilateral talks with N.Korea

A U.S. envoy expressed support for China’s proposal to hold informal six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear threat and offered to meet bilaterally with the North on the sidelines of those discussions.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill was in Seoul as part of a regional tour to coordinate the international response to the North’s test-firing of seven missiles on Wednesday. The tests caused international outrage but also division over whether North Korea should be punished.

Over Chinese and Russian objections, Japan on Friday proposed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would impose sanctions on North Korea and order the communist regime to stop developing ballistic missiles.

The United Nations Security Council will meet and decide soon the direction of economic sanctions against North Korea for Kim Jong-Il’s Fourth of July missile launch escapade. Flap surmises this concession to bilateral talks may have been a concession to China in order to buy their abstension in the UNSC.

Flap handicaps a tough resolution, including sanctions will pass by the end of the day.

Kenzo Oshima(R), Japan’s Ambassador to the United Nations , speaks to the media beside John Bolton(R), United States UN Ambassador outside the Security Council chamber at UN headquarters in New York. The United States and Japan challenged China and Russia to back sanctions against North Korea , calling for a UN Security Council vote on the Stalinist state’s missile tests.

Stay tuned…..

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North Korea Watch: North Korea Threatens “Stronger Physical Actions”

North Korea Watch: Japan Proposes United Nations Sanctions on North Korea

North Korea Watch: North Korea Launches Taepodong-2 at Area off Hawaii

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