UN Security Council Nations Agree to Condemn N. Korea's Rocket Launch

By GottaLaff

A message to L'il Kim:

Key Security Council nations reached agreement Saturday on a statement that would condemn North Korea's rocket launch and toughen sanctions against the reclusive communist nation, council diplomats said.

The five permanent veto-wielding members -- the U.S., China, Russia, Britain and France -- and Japan met after Tokyo backed down from a demand that the Security Council adopt a new resolution, the strongest response from the U.N.'s most powerful body.

A presidential statement is considered a weaker reaction by the council. The draft statement condemns North Korea's April 5 rocket launch and makes clear that it was a violation of a Security Council resolution adopted after the North conducted a nuclear test in 2006 which bans any missile tests by the country, the diplomats said.

The statement calls for freezing the assets of companies or organizations involved in transactions related to the import or export of missiles, nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, the diplomats said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations took place behind closed doors

China and Russia, the North Koreans' strongest allies, refused to go along with a new resolution, which the United States was also seeking. But while Japan kept insisting on a resolution, the U.S. indicated it would also accept a strong presidential statement from the council, the diplomats said. [...]

North Korea has warned that any move to censure it at the U.N. could prompt its withdrawal from the nuclear disarmament talks, which involve China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the U.S.

A presidential statement must be approved by consensus, meaning that all 15 council members must approve it before it is read at a formal council meeting by its president. It becomes part of the council's official record, unlike a press statement. The U.S. and others argue that presidential statements, like resolutions, are legally binding. [...]

Under the draft, the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against North Korea would be given two weeks to agree on the companies, material and technologies to be banned, the diplomats said. If the committee failed to come up with a list, the Security Council itself would then come up with its own list, the diplomats said.

Update: North Korea warning to US and South Korea

By GottaLaff

Those breaking news Tweets come in handy. Now we have the full story:

North Korea has warned that any attempt to shoot down a satellite it says it plans to launch will result in war.

The warning came as the US and South Korea began an annual joint military exercise expected to last 12 days.

North Korea has long described such exercises as provocative but tensions between the two Koreas are now high.

The South and the US believe Pyongyang could be preparing to test-fire a long-range missile under the guise of a satellite launch.

On Friday, the North said that the risk of conflict meant it could no longer guarantee the safety of commercial flights through airspace it controls off the east coast. [...]

In a statement published by the official Korean Central News Agency on Monday, the Korean People's Army warned that it was ready to use force against the South, the US and Japan.

“ Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war ”
North Norean army statement

"We will retaliate any act of intercepting our satellite for peaceful purposes with prompt counter strikes by the most powerful military means," it said.

"Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war."

The army earlier issued a separate statement saying all military personnel had been ordered "to be fully combat ready" in order to defend the nation. [...]

The army added that it would cut off North-South military communications during the exercise period.

The 12-day military exercise involves about 50,000 US and South Korean troops, in what the two allies say is a rehearsal for the defence of the peninsula, the BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul says.

But North Korea is always rankled by the annual drill, our correspondent says, claiming that it is a dry run for an invasion and dangerously provocative.

Some observers in South Korea, though, believe the North may be using the exercise as a pretext to clear the skies, our correspondent adds.