France wants UN to prevent any North Korea attack

PARIS, July 9 (Reuters) France wants the UN Security Council to put pressure on North Korea to prevent it from launching a missile attack, Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie today said.

''It is very important, and that is what France is doing, that there can be a discussion within the United Nations Security Council between the responsible big nations to arrive at the best way to put pressure on Korea ... that it renounces,'' Alliot-Marie told Radio-J in an interview.

''Today we need to prevent effectively ... a possible attack that would provoke military action in response. That is a question of days and weeks,'' she said.

Pyongyang test-fired seven missiles last week, defying widespread international pressure against such action.

Japan introduced a UN resolution to impose sanctions on the reclusive Stalinist state, but veto-wielding Security Council members China and Russia oppose this, saying sanctions would make Pyongyang even less likely to resume talks.

Japan's revised draft, co-sponsored by the United States, Britain and France, says that no nation can procure missiles or missile-related ''items, materials goods and technology'' from North Korea, or transfer financial resources to the isolated Communist country's weapons programmes.

China has suggested informal six-party talks to try to push forward efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program, and Washington has supported this.

The six countries involved in previous rounds of talks on the subject were the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

REUTERS SY RK2232