WASHINGTON - UN sanctions can only have a chance at persuading North Korea to
rethink its nuclear weapons program if all countries join in strongly supporting
and implementing the penalties, former US government experts said on Monday.
Envoys involved in six-party talks on dismantling North
Korea's nuclear program, chief US delegate Christopher Hill (C), South
Korean counterpart Chung Yung-Woo (R) and Japanese negotiator Kenichiro
Sasae (L) in Hanoi. Hill arrived in Beijing for meetings with China aimed
at jump-starting stalled six-nation talks on the crisis. [AFP]
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Richard Newcomb, who for 18 years ran the US Treasury Department office that
designs and implements sanctions, said a UN resolution adopted on Oct 14 sets
out "strongly targeted ... (and) clearly articulated" financial and weapons
penalties.
Imposed after
Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear weapons test, the US-drafted resolution
allows nations to stop cargo going to and from North Korea to check for weapons
of mass destruction or related supplies.
These are "better crafted and with greater specificity"
than sanctions imposed previously on other countries and could work, Newcomb
told a Korea Economic Institute program.
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