Supporters of a Security Council resolution that would impose sanctions on North Korea agreed to delay a vote in the hope that China can pressure Pyongyang to return to talks on nuclear disarmament and halt missile tests, U.S. officials said Monday. The five veto-wielding nations on the U.N. Security Council are divided over sanctions. The U.S., Britain and France support the resolution proposed by Japan after North Korea test-fired seven missiles on July 5 — one apparently a long-range type that could potentially reach the United States. China and Russia oppose sanctions and have been pressing for a weaker presidential statement, which is not legally binding, instead of a resolution. China introduced a draft presidential statement on Monday. Beijing's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya said it represented the best compromise and the best way to get North Korea to return to the six-party talks on nuclear disarmament which have been stalled since September. Wang told reporters the resolution "will not calm down the situation" and urged all parties to send "a unified message" to the North. And he indicated for the first time that China might be prepared to consider a weaker resolution. "If they wish to have a resolution, they should have a modified one, not this one," he said. Ambassadors from the five permanent members of the Security Council met Monday with Japan on the North Korean question while a Chinese delegation arrived in North Korea pledging friendship and deeper ties. The Associated Press quoted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as saying that the United States agreed with Japan that "it would be wise" to allow some time for Chinese diplomacy to work. "We do think that the Chinese mission to North Korea has some promise and we will like to let that play out," she told reporters in Washington. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton said the resolution's supporters decided not to press for a vote on Monday in order to support Chinese diplomacy. After the meeting at the U.N., Wang told reporters "the members have different views so we agreed that we will continue consultations about that." Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said a non-binding presidential statement was not acceptable to the resolution's supporters. However, he acknowledged that China would likely veto the Japanese resolution as it stands today. Rice said the United States wants North Korea to return to a moratorium on ballistic missile launches from the Korean peninsula, resume the six-party talks and implement a joint statement agreed to by the countries at the six-party talks last September.
