U.S. pushes for united front aginst North Korea missiles

TOKYO -- A top U.S. envoy pushed for a united international front against North Korea's recent missile tests Sunday, but divisions widened over a U.S.-backed Japanese proposal for sanctions against Pyongyang.

U.S. assistant secretary of state Christopher Hill was in Tokyo ahead of a possible vote in the U.N. Security Council on the resolution. Despite resistance from China and Russia, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso vowed Sunday not to compromise on the measure's tough wording.

South Korea has not publicly taken a position on the resolution but on Sunday issued a harsh rebuke of Japan's outspoken criticism of the North Korean missile launches last week.

"There is no reason to fuss over this from the break of dawn like Japan, but every reason to do the opposite," a statement from President Roh Moo-hyun's office said, suggesting that Tokyo was helping to heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea also issued fresh threats. The North's state-run Korean Central Broadcasting Station, monitored by South Korea's Yonhap news agency, cited a previous statement by leader Kim Jong Il vowing "to answer to an enemy's retaliation with retaliation and to an all-out war with an all-out war."

China and Russia, two of North Korea's traditional allies, remained the two veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council who have voiced opposition to the resolution, which Japan hopes to put to a vote today.

Despite the divisions, a top U.S. diplomat voiced optimism about forming a common strategy and urged China to put pressure on North Korea to end its launches and to return to international nuclear disarmament talks.

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, on CNN's Late Edition, said Sunday the United States hopes Beijing will "exert some pressure on the North Korean regime to get it to come back to the six-party talks and end these missile tests."

Hill, who arrived in Japan after stops in Beijing and Seoul, denied any deep split over North Korea or the Japanese resolution.

"I don't see any splintering. On the contrary, I see a very clear message," Hill said in Tokyo, where he was expected to hold talks with Aso on Monday. "All countries are showing resolve in the ways that they can."

Song Min-soon, South Korea's presidential security adviser, however, told The Associated Press that Seoul was not convinced sanctions would stop North Korea's missile efforts, adding more work was needed to see whether that was the best step to take.

Roh's office followed that up with a statement defending its calm approach and suggesting that Japan's reaction was too shrill.

"It is not any good to heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula or aggravate the South-North relations and neither does it help to solve the nuclear issue or the missile issue," the statement said.

Amid the divisions over sanctions, China's idea for an informal gathering of the countries involved in the six-party talks appeared to be gaining traction. North Korea has been boycotting the formal six-nation talks to protest a U.S. crackdown on its alleged money-laundering and other financial crimes.

An informal gathering could allow Pyongyang to technically stand by its boycott, but at the same time meet with the other five parties -- South Korea, China, the U.S., Japan and Russia. Hill backed the proposal on Saturday, and said Washington could meet with the North on the sidelines of such a meeting.

Japan, which sits within easy range of North Korean missiles, said Sunday it won't compromise on the U.N. resolution, which prohibits nations from procuring missiles or missile-related "items, materials goods and technology" from North Korea, or from transferring financial resources connected to the North's program.

"To compromise because of one country which has veto power, even though most other countries support us, sends the wrong message," Aso told national broadcaster NHK. "We can't alter our stance."

Aso said there is a possibility that Russia will abstain, leaving China as a possible sole veto. Nine of 15 votes on the Security Council are needed to pass the resolution. The United States, Britain and France have expressed support for the resolution.

As behind-the-scenes negotiations gathered pace, North Korea's ambassador to Australia warned in a newspaper article that international attempts to halt his nation's missile tests could trigger war.

Ambassador Chon Jae Hong, writing in Melbourne's Sunday Herald Sun, defended Pyongyang's missile launches as routine military drills.

"It is a lesson taught by history and a stark reality of international relations, proven by the Iraqi crisis, that the upsetting of the balance of force is bound to create instability and spark even a war," Chon said.

Also Sunday, Aso and Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing held a 35-minute telephone call to discuss the U.N. Security Council response, Kyodo News agency said. Aso was believed to have asked China not to use its veto power to shoot down the North Korea resolution, the report said.

South Korea has taken a mixed approach toward the North. It condemned the tests and cut off some aid, but has also called for "patient dialogue" and plans to go ahead with bilateral talks with Pyongyang later this week.

A South Korean delegation still plans to host meetings from Tuesday to Friday in the southern port city of Busan. The Cabinet-level talks are the highest-level regular contacts between the two Koreas, started after a North-South summit in 2000.