Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




NUKEWARS
UN sanctions unlikely to bring N. Korea to heel: analysts
by Staff Writers
Seoul (AFP) Jan 23, 2013


The latest sanctions against North Korea will have little impact on its nuclear and missile programme, despite the added clout of China's support for the UN measures, analysts said Wednesday.

The action announced by the UN Security Council on Tuesday was a clear compromise that expanded the list of North Korean entities on the UN's sanctions list, but stopped short of imposing any tough new penalties.

It followed weeks of intense negotiations between the United States, which wanted a strong response to the North's long-range rocket launch last month, and China which sought to shield its ally from any harsh measures.

The resolution added North Korea's space agency, a bank, four trading companies and four individuals to the UN list of entities subject to an assets freeze and travel ban.

"The sanctions themselves amount to little more than a slap on the wrist," said Kim Yong-Hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul.

"But the North is likely to be upset at China yielding to pressure from other members of the UN Security Council and accepting the resolution," Kim said.

The US-proposed resolution was adopted unanimously by the 15-nation council and included a threat of "significant action" should Pyongyang stage a nuclear test in the future.

As North Korea's sole major ally and economic lifeline, China is seen as the only country with any genuine leverage over the impoverished, isolated and nuclear-armed state.

At the same time, Pyongyang has played on Chinese fears of the consequences of North Korea's collapse to defy Beijing's efforts to rein in its nuclear weapons programme.

Most analysts agreed with Kim that the real import of Tuesday's sanctions announcement lay in Beijing's backing, rather than the actual measures themselves.

"Any kind of Chinese move is important," said Robert Kelly, professor of Political Science and Diplomacy at Pusan National University.

"North Korea would collapse without Chinese support. So when China backs sanctions, even if they aren't that tough, it's significant," Kelly said.

Pyongyang's reaction to the UN measures was swift and defiant, with the North's foreign ministry denouncing the resolution and vowing to strengthen the country's nuclear and missile capabilities.

Its response is likely to fuel speculation that Pyongyang is preparing a third nuclear test, following its previous detonations in 2006 and 2009.

"The problem is that North Korea has far too much invested -- financially and politically -- in its nuclear programme to step back now," said Kelly.

"The best that sanctions have done and can do is slow the march to nuclearisation and make it harder to proliferate," he added.

Speaking to reporters after the Security Council announcement, China's UN ambassador Li Baodong made it clear that Beijing was equally sceptical about the effectiveness of sanctions.

"The policy of sanctions and resolutions alone does not work," Li said, calling for an early resumption of six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue that have been held intermittently since 2003

Pyongyang walked out of the negotiations in April 2009, a month before it carried out its second nuclear test, and in its statement Wednesday the foreign ministry appeared to rule out any return to the table.

"There will be no dialogue to discuss denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula," the ministry said.

Last month a US think-tank, citing satellite photos, said the North had repaired extensive rain damage at its nuclear test site in the northeast of the country and could conduct a detonation at two weeks' notice.

And South Korea's Unification Minister Yu Woo-Ik recently told a parliamentary committee that it was "highly probable" the North would follow up the successful rocket launch with another nuclear test.

But Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies, said the prospect of another test in the first half of this year was "rather low".

"A test is the North's last card and it's still too soon to play it," Yang said.

Yun Duk-Min, a professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, said Pyongyang would wait to see what line the US administration would take on North Korea at the beginning of President Barack Obama's second term.

"The important thing is the degree to which China will participate in enforcing this resolution," Yun said, arguing that expanding Chinese-North Korean trade ties effectively neutered the force of any UN economic measures.

.


Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








NUKEWARS
Foreigners can now take own phones to N. Korea
Beijing (AFP) Jan 20, 2013
Foreigners visiting North Korea can now take their own mobile phones into the country, Chinese state media reported Sunday, citing an employee with the operator of the country's mobile network. A technician with Koryolink, the North Korean-Egyptian joint venture that operates the 3G phone network, told China's official Xinhua news agency that the move took effect on January 7. "We have t ... read more


NUKEWARS
US, Europe team up for moon fly-by

Russia to Launch Lunar Mission in 2015

US, Europe team up for moon fly-by

Mission would drag asteroid to the moon

NUKEWARS
Possible Clues to Ancient Subsurface Biosphere on Mars

NASA's Veteran Mars Rover Ready to Start 10th Year

Opportunity Investigating Light-toned Veins in Rock Outcrop

Reull Vallis: a river ran through it

NUKEWARS
TDRS-K Offers Upgrade to Vital Communications Net

An Astronaut's Guide

Mathematical breakthrough sets out rules for more effective teleportation

Orion Teamwork Pays Off

NUKEWARS
Reshuffle for Tiangong

China to launch 20 spacecrafts in 2013

Mr Xi in Space

China plans manned space launch in 2013: state media

NUKEWARS
NASA to Send Inflatable Pod to International Space Station

ISS to get inflatable module

ESA workhorse to power NASA's Orion spacecraft

Competition Hopes To Fine Tune ISS Solar Array Shadowing

NUKEWARS
NASA Selects Experimental Commercial Suborbital Flight Payloads

Payload elements come together in Starsem's wrap-up Soyuz mission from Baikonur Cosmodrome for Globalstar

Amazonas 3 in Kourou for Ariane 5 year-opening launch campaign

Suborbital Space Research and Education Conference Scheduled for June 2013

NUKEWARS
New Evidence Indicates Auroras Occur Outside Our Solar System

Glitch has space telescope shut down

Earth-size planets common in galaxy

NASA's Hubble Reveals Rogue Planetary Orbit For Fomalhaut B

NUKEWARS
Novel sensor provides bigger picture

Dutch architect to build house with 3D printer

Researchers move Barkhausen Effect forward

Computer breakthrough: Code of life becomes databank




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement