By Kang Hyun-kyung
Russia, one of the permanent U.N. Security Council (UNSC) members, joined international condemnation of North Korea over its enriched-uranium program, according to a government official, Thursday.
Russia stated that the North’s enriched-uranium program was in violation of UNSC resolutions and the Sep. 19 joint statement released during the six-party talks earlier, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The reaction came hours after deputy nuclear negotiators of South Korea and Russia met to discuss ways to handle the North’s nuclear program.
Grigory Logvinov, who arrived in Seoul Wednesday, met with his South Korean counterpart Cho Hyun-dong. He also sat down with South Korea’s chief negotiator Wi Sung-lac and another deputy negotiator Kim Hong-kyun.
An official said on condition of anonymity that he understood that Russia would not make public its official position on China’s proposal to have emergency talks among chief nuclear negotiators of the six-party talks in early December.
Earlier, Chinese chief nuclear negotiator Wu Dawei called on his counterparts of the multilateral talks to meet in an effort to ease military escalation on the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea was skeptical about the offer. So was the United States and Japan.
The official told reporters that the five UNSC permanent members have already started consultations on the North’s new threat, which was unveiled days ago when a U.S. nuclear scientist visited the communist country.
The North unveiled a new processing plant that had more than 1,000 centrifuges.
“The North’s enriched-uranium program was de facto referred to the UNSC,” the official said.
In contrast, he added, the UNSC members are not holding consultations on North Korea’s shelling of Yeongpyeong Island last week. The bombardment killed four South Koreans, including two civilians.
The official declined to answer the question of why the armed attack was not on the agenda at the UNSC, saying he didn’t want to go over it in detail.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade appeared not to be enthusiastic about the idea of referring the North’s provocation to the UNSC.
South Korea took the initiative in taking the sinking of the warship Cheonan to the UNSC after a multinational investigation team found North Korea torpedoed the ship.
The maritime tragedy killed 46 sailors.
The UNSC wrapped up the case by releasing a presidential statement condemning the attack on the warship, but stopped short of naming the North as being responsible.
