Seoul seeks additional UN resolution on NK

By Jung Sung-ki

Staff reporter

South Korea plans to seek an additional resolution on North Korea at the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) over the sinking of a South Korean warship on March 26, diplomatic sources said Sunday.

North Korea is already suffering sanctions from U.N. resolutions 1718 and 1874 adopted after its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. The resolutions ban arms transfers to and from the communist state and call on the international community to discontinue financial assistance to the regime.

It remains to be seen, however, if the UNSC will slap additional sanctions on Pyongyang or seek to toughen existing sanctions, the sources said.

Above all, China, North Korea's primary source of economic and military aid, appears to be remaining neutral over the findings of an investigation team that included experts from the United States, Sweden, Australia and the United Kingdom.

"Our diplomatic efforts are focused on punishing the North beyond the existing U.N. resolutions," a source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said. "The U.S. maintains a very firm position on the Cheonan issue and other nations, such as Japan, are also raising concerns about the attack. We think a consensus is building up now."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to visit Seoul this week to discuss a joint response with South Korea to the tragedy that claimed 46 lives.

Clinton, who is in China as part of a Northeast Asian trip, tried to make the case Saturday for greater cooperation between Washington and Beijing.

In Japan, the first leg of her trip, Friday, the top U.S. diplomat issued a sharp warning to Pyongyang, saying the Obama administration will work with regional powers to punish the North.

"We cannot allow this attack on South Korea to go unanswered by the international community," Clinton said. "This will not be and cannot be business as usual. There must be an international, not just a regional, but an international response."

During meetings with South Korean and Chinese leaders, Clinton is expected to discuss economic and diplomatic penalties against the North, including potentially a new round of U.N. sanctions.

South Korea is also considering stern measures of its own against the belligerent North.

The contemplated measures include reviewing inter-Korean business projects, staging a large South Korea-U.S. anti-submarine exercise and banning North Korean vessels from entering the straits between Jeju Island and the South Korean mainland, government officials said.

Others include resuming loudspeaker broadcasts of news and propaganda near the inter-Korean border, according to the officials.