Chair`s Statement at the U.N. Security Council Futile

The U.S. failed to adopt the chair of the U.N. Security Council`s statement on Wednesday that condemned North Korea`s nuclear threat due to opposition from China and Russia.

“Diplomatic efforts (over the North Korean nuclear issue) are currently being carried out multilaterally, hence, now it is not the right time to discuss these issues at the Security Council,” said Gennady Gatilov, Russia`s Deputy Ambassador to the U.N., rejecting the proposal made by the U.S. during a closed meeting of the five permanent members of the Security Council at U.N. Headquarters Wednesday.

"As everybody has agreed that tri-party dialogue between North Korea, the U.S. and China held in Beijing was a good start in removing the deadlock on the North Korean nuclear issue, it is natural to continue the multilateral dialogue," said Zhang Yishan, Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the U.N., who supported the Russian side.

Britain and France, however, expressed their support for the U.S. proposal.

The draft calls upon North Korea to “immediately and completely dismantle its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable and irreversible manner."

Meanwhile, a Washington dispatch in the Asahi Shimbun on Thursday said that North Korea had proposed four-way talks that include South Korea along with the U.S. and China.

It said China`s Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who was visiting the U.S., had conveyed the proposal to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage but the U.S. refused it, insisting on 5-way talks that include both South Korea and Japan.

Meanwhile, President George W. Bush had a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone, and thanked him of keeping diplomatic pressure on Iran and North Korea to give up their development of nuclear weapons while also asking his opinion on 6 way-talks to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue.

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