North Korean sanctions go before U.N. Security Council today

UNITED NATIONS — The Security Council plans to vote today on a resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear test after a session to address Chinese and Russian concerns over how to implement them.

Tests showing radiation in gases dispelled most doubts that North Korea had conducted the test. The Associated Press quoted one U.S. government official as saying intelligence officials assigned an 80 percent probability that the North Korean explosion was a nuclear detonation, based on an air sample collected Wednesday.

Results of initial tests, released early Friday, found no evidence of radioactivity in air particles. However, subsequent tests on gases collected by a WC-135 "sniffer plane" were positive for radiation, indicating an atomic explosion, a U.S. government official said.

The U.N. resolution calls for a ban on goods related to North Korea's missile and nuclear programs and a freeze on financial activities that support them, as well as a travel ban for senior North Korean officials. It also puts an embargo on heavy conventional weapons and luxury goods. A draft introduced late Thursday included a provision that made clear that the resolution would not allow military enforcement without another resolution, at the request of China and Russia.

But China has balked at a measure that would allow the inspection and seizure of suspected nuclear and missile materials going in and out of North Korea, arguing that it could provoke confrontation, interfere with commerce and allow intrusive activity too close to its borders. It is based on the 2003 U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, a group of 16 core countries that have agreed to take steps to stop the flow of weapons of mass destruction, including boarding ships for aggressive inspections. Russia is a member of the core group, and more than 80 other nations have signed on.

Chief U.S. delegate John Bolton, one of the original architects of PSI, said it would oblige nations to help with cargo inspections at sea, airports and border crossings, and it is consistent with international law. "I see that as a natural evolution," he said.

China, however, said it could not agree to inspections.

"Politically, China will not do it," said Wang Guangya, China's U.N. delegate. "I believe that the exercises under PSI will easily lead, whether it is intentional or not, to ... escalations of provocations."

Russia called a special session Friday to discuss objections to the resolution's annex outlining implementation of the sanctions.

"We are not there yet," Russian delegate Vitaly Churkin said of hopes for the full council's support of the resolution in the vote set for today.

The vote is scheduled after meetings to finalize proposed changes.

"I'm still ready to go for a vote," Bolton said Friday night. "We'll just have to see what instructions are overnight from Russia and China."

China and Russia, neighbors and major trade partners of North Korea, are considered crucial to the implementation of the new sanctions.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to visit China, South Korea and Japan next week to discuss vigorous enforcement of the sanctions and to try to show a common front with allies, officials said.