South Korea has asked the U.N. to discuss followup measures to the sinking of one of its warships, the government said Friday. Seoul, via its ambassador to the U.N., sent an official letter outlining the request to Mexico, current chair of the U.N. Security Council.
The letter called for the U.N. to discuss the Cheonan issue as it is of huge gravity and poses a threat to international peace and stability, according to the Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun.
Vice Foreign Minister Chun Young-woo was in New York this week to meet with U.N. officials on the last-minute details of the letter.
A multinational team of investigators said earlier this month that a North Korean torpedo had ripped the 1,200-ton warship into two on March 26, killing 46 of those on board. Pyongyang continues to deny involvement.
A North Korean soldier keeps watch over the South side wearing a battle
helmet at the truce village of Panmunjeom in the Demilitarized Zone
separating the two Koreas. (Yonhap)
In order to draw out strong countermeasures from the U.N., South Korea has enlisted the support of international allies.
On Thursday, Seoul’s chief nuclear negotiator Wi Sung-lac said he informed Russia of the South government’s plans to send the letter to the U.N. to hold North Korea accountable at the U.N. Security Council.
“I clarified that South Korea would bring the case to the U.N. Security Council,” Wi Sung-lac told South Korean correspondents in Russia. Earlier in the day, Wi met his Russian counterpart, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin, for talks on North Korea’s sinking of the warship.
Russia, along with the two Koreas, the U.S., Japan and China, make up the six-way talks designed to end Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.
These discussions have been stalled since last year, after the North said it would “permanently” quit the dialogue to retaliate a U.N. denouncement of its rocket launch.
Pyongyang also conducted its second nuclear test in May last year.
As with China, Russia also has close ties with the North. The two nations have so far been the most lukewarm in setting in motion tougher sanctions against the North. China maintains it will need to further review the issue. It did, however, stress it would not “protect” anyone culpable for the sinking.
Russia recently dispatched a three-member team of naval experts for a first-hand review of the results and evidence. But despite its appeal to the U.N., even the Seoul government is skeptical of seeing stepped up sanctions. Pyongyang is currently already under stringent U.N. sanctions for its missile and nuclear tests.
“We expect the Security Council to send a political, symbolic and moral message that such acts as the Cheonan incident cannot be tolerated and that North Korea should be held accountable and should not repeat this kind ofmilitary provocation,” Vice Foreign Minister Chun said earlier this week.
For its part, Seoul has halted all inter-Korean trade and is keeping activities at Gaeseong Industrial Complex at a minimum.
The military has beefed up anti-submarine drills, but a similar drill to be conducted jointly with the U.S. was delayed. The Defense Ministry said this was because the U.S. called for more time to prepare.
The two nations had been scheduled to conduct the large-scale, four-day naval drill in the South’s waters off the West Sea starting Monday.
“The joint naval drill, set to be held early next week, was delayed to after mid-June, given conditions of preparations by the U.S. side,” Deputy Defense Minister Chang Kwang-il told reporters on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific security conference in Singapore Friday.
President Lee Myung-bak, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young and other security officials participated in the forum.
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