US wants UN to respond to N Korea; China hesitates

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 3 (Reuters) US Ambassador John Bolton urged the UN Security Council on Tuesday to respond to North Korea's threatened nuclear test, but China said the issue should be handled by the six nations conducting talks with Pyongyang.

North Korea's foreign ministry released a statement today saying Pyongyang would conduct its first-ever nuclear test, blaming a United States' ''threat of nuclear war and sanctions'' for forcing its hand.

''The best channel is through the six-party talks,'' China's UN ambassador, Wang Guangya told reporters after the 15 council members consulted on the issue.

''If the six-party talks cannot do anything about it, I don't think the council is in a (position) to do it,'' Wang said, adding that he did not oppose a council reaction that would encourage resumption of those talks.

Council members referred the issue to their capitals for further discussions tomorrow.

The two Koreas, China, Japan, the United States and Russia have held talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, but North Korea walked out of them a year ago and refuses to return until Washington ends a financial squeeze.

Bolton said the council should devise a strategy for ''preventive diplomacy'' and not just issue a statement. ''Issuing a piece of paper is not the same as having a policy,'' he said.

''North Korea should be more concerned about silence than if we had issued a four-sentence press statement,'' he said.

Russia's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, like China, urged caution, saying, ''People were referring to a need for brainstorming. If we do a brainstorming we should heavily focus on the first part of that term.'' But Bolton said that a resolution by the Security Council in July condemning North Korean ballistic missile tests needed to be followed up.

''Obviously the ballistic missiles, if mated with nuclear weapons, would be a very grave threat to international peace and security,'' Bolton said.

The Security Council adopted a resolution on July 15 to impose weapons-related sanctions on North Korea in response to its flurry of missile tests earlier that month.

That resolution demands that North Korea suspend ''all activities'' on its ballistic missile programs and bans imports from or exports to North Korea of missile-related items.

''I don't know what the rationale in Pyongyang is, but I think it is a test of the Security Council. I think it's a test of how the council responds,'' Bolton said.

Reuters SP GC2229