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(LEAD) U.S. repeats calls on China to condemn N. Korea for ship sinking: State Dept.
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, June 30 (Yonhap) -- The United States Wednesday repeated calls on China to join forces in condemning North Korea at the U.N. Security Council for the torpedoeing of a South Korean warship in March.
"The president framed this, we think, appropriately so," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said. "We continue our discussions with China and other countries in New York, but we think at this point there's little ambiguity and, we believe the international community needs to send a direct and clear message to North Korea."
Crowley was responding to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, which has said China's position on the sinking of the Cheonan is "fair and justified" and denounced President Obama for his remarks on China's "willful blindness" to North Korea on the Cheonan issue in Toronto Saturday while meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on the margins of the G-20 economic summit.
"We respect the fact that China borders North Korea; it has a direct interest in North Korea's future," Crowley said. "But as the president made clear, we don't see any ambiguity here. And it's time for North Korea to take responsibility for its actions, to cease its provocative behavior and move in a more constructive direction."
The attack on the ship in the Yellow Sea killed 46 sailors.
China has not yet blamed North Korea for the incident, spawning suspicions that Beijing, Pyongyang's staunchest communist ally, will not endorse any Security Council presidential statement, let alone a resolution imposing fresh sanctions.
North Korea is already under an overall arms embargo and economic sanctions after its nuclear and missile tests last year.
An international probe concluded last month that a North Korean submarine torpedoed the Cheonan, but North Korea denies involvement and has threatened war if condemned by the Security Council.
North Korea's ambassador to the U.N., Sin Son-ho, Tuesday conveyed a letter to Mexican Ambassador Claude Heller, this month's council rotating chairman, to call for a fresh probe into the sinking with participation by North Korea.
Crowley dismissed that, saying, "There has been a thorough investigation of the sinking of the Cheonan, and it was the evidence that was assembled during that investigation points clearly to North Korea and a North Korean torpedo.
"So we don't think, at this point, that another investigation is warranted," he said. "We think the result is clear and compelling. We continue our discussions in New York about an appropriate and timely response to this provocative action."
A senior South Korean official, visiting here, meanwhile, told reporters that China has agreed to the need for the Security Council to issue a statement on the Cheonan incident.
The official, asking anonymity, said that the 15 members of Security Council have made progress on the wording of a statement to be issued, but added, "We still need to resolve the last big differences."
He said he does not expect the rebuke, whether a presidential statement or resolution, to be stronger than the one issued by the G-8 leaders in Canada Saturday.
"We think the G-8 statement is not bad, and we are discussing the wording with that as a basis," he said. "But it may be difficult for the council to produce a version to the level of the G-8 statement and I think the council version should be more delicate."
Russia, North Korea's traditional ally, has diluted the G-8 statement, opposing any clause directly linking North Korea to the ship sinking. Russia is a G-8 member, along with the U.S., Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Canada and Italy.
North Korea has another ally on the Security Council, China, which has joined with Russia in watering down any measures against North Korea for its missile and nuclear tests. China and Russia are two of five veto-wielding powers within the UNSC.
The G-8 communique did not directly link North Korea to the sinking of the Cheonan in the Yellow Sea in March, but noted an international probe concluded that North Korea is responsible.
"We condemn, in this context, the attack which led to the sinking of the Cheonan," it said. "We demand that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea refrain from committing any attacks or threatening hostilities against the Republic of Korea."
The anonymous official said that Washington is preparing for a set of unilateral financial measures against North Korea.
"I don't think Washington will single out any one foreign bank, like they did to the Banco Delta Asia," he said. "I understand they are coming up with general guidelines for financial sanctions on North Korea."
Washington froze more than US$25 million in North Korean accounts in Banco Delta Asia in 2005, designating the Macau bank as an entity suspected of helping North Korea launder money it earned by circulating counterfeit $100 bills called supernotes.
The U.S. lifted the freeze in early 2007 to entice the North to come back to the six-party talks on ending its nuclear weapons programs. Washington officials have said the freeze effectively cut off Pyongyang's access to the international financial system and dealt the nation a devastating blow.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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