Seoul, Tokyo call for serious enforcement of sanctions on North Korea

TOKYO, June 28 (Yonhap) -- The leaders of South Korea and Japan on Sunday called for strict enforcement of sanctions imposed by the United Nations on North Korea, telling the communist nation it has to behave and return to dialogue.

The joint call by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime
Minister Taro Aso came amid reports that Pyongyang may be preparing to test
launch a long-range ballistic missile despite the recent U.N. resolution
condemning its May 25 atomic test.
"Strictly speaking, now is the time for U.N. member nations that unanimously
adopted the Security Council resolution to join their efforts to implement it,"
Lee said in a joint press conference with Aso following their summit here.
The U.N. Security Council had adopted a resolution in 2006 that placed various
economic and political sanctions on the communist North for its first-ever
nuclear test that year.
But given ongoing efforts at the time by South Korea, as well as the United
States, to engage North Korea bilaterally and in multilateral denuclearization
talks, the earlier resolution was never implemented in full.
Lee and U.S. President Barack Obama have noted that past engagements with
Pyongyang may have led it to expect "rewards" or concessions following its
provocative actions.
"North Koreans will come to understand that this is different, that they will not
be able to repeat the past or their past tactics and strategies," the South
Korean president said after talks with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington
on June 16.
He reiterated that theme again on Sunday, saying that things will be different
this time and that the latest U.N. resolution must be implemented.
Aso renewed his country's call on North Korea to give up its nuclear ambition,
calling the North's possession of nuclear weapons a "threat to peace and
security" and that it will never be tolerated.
The two leaders also agreed to keep the momentum for negotiations alive through
five-way consultations that would exclude Pyongyang.
The five-nations would be in lieu of the existing six-way forum grouping the two
Koreas, the U.S., Japan, Russia, and China.
Beijing, the host of the talks and the North's closest ally and largest donor of
economic aid, has not yet said whether it agrees with the format, which Seoul
says is part of an effort to pressure North Korea to return to the dialogue
table.
"At today's summit, we agreed on the need to deepen our cooperation with China
while strengthening relations among South Korea, Japan and the United States,"
Aso said, noting China's participation was most important for a successful
implementation of U.N. sanctions.
North Korea declared in April that it was quitting the talks in reaction to a
U.N. condemnation of its rocket launch earlier that month that is believed to
have been a disguised missile test.
Still, Lee noted there is room for the North to avoid the stiff U.N. sanctions
that include a ban on heavy weapons trade between the communist nation and U.N.
member states and inspection of North Korean ships suspected of carrying banned
items.
The sanctions, President Lee said, "are aimed at making North Korea realize that
giving up its nuclear weapons will provide it with far more advantages" on a more
permanent basis.
"The final aim of the sanctions is not the punishment itself, but to persuade
North Korea to give up nuclear weapons and become part of the international
community," he stressed.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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