Downing Street Says » North Korea

Asked if people had the right to be worried about a "lunatic" with his hands on something so important as nuclear weapons, the PMOS said that as the Prime Minister’s recent words made clear, we did regard this very, very seriously indeed. However, so too did China, Japan, the US, South Korea, and the wider world community, which was why we anticipated that the UN Security Council would want to meet fairly quickly to discuss this matter. People were seized by the significance of this irresponsible act, and there would be a response. What the PMOS did not want to do was to get ahead of what would happen in New York later today. However, anyone who had heard the statements by China and Japan yesterday, or the statements that the United UN Security Council warning North Korea about the consequences of going ahead with this act should in any way send a signal other than a very strong one to North Korea.

Asked if we were suggesting that China would take draconian action on sanctions, the PMOS said that he did not want to talk for China. China did, however, make very clear its opposition, both in agreeing the original Security Council statement, but also in its joint statement with Japan yesterday.

Asked if the British Government was willing to hold a debate about sanctions, the PMOS said we should wait for the meeting in New York, and then we would make our position clear. What was important was that North Korea saw that there would be response. However, the proper place for that response was in the forum of the UN.

Asked if this made the case for Trident more strong, the PMOS replied that in terms of the arguments over our nuclear deterrents, and the case for nuclear deterrents, the time to do that would be whenever the exhaustive process of analysis was completed.

Put that the Prime Minister had talked about the failures of the UN, and did he therefore see this as a test for the UN now, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister hoped in all issues where the international community needed to speak, the UN would be at the heart of that process. The PMOS said again that people should wait to see what would happen in New York later today.

Asked if anything could be seen about the impact of Iraq regarding nuclear testing, the PMOS said that this was an issue which was to do with North Korea. We could debate Iraq at any time, but this was about North Korea, and a regime which was warned about the consequences of going ahead with this kind of act. It should be judged in its own right.

Put that last week, the Foreign Ministers had met, but had failed to reach a stand on Iran, so what made us think that we could do something stronger about North Korea, the PMOS said that firstly, the process on Iran continued. Secondly, in terms of North Korea, there were the statements from China and Japan, as well as the united statement from the Security Council.

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» Monday, October 9, 2006

North Korea

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