nuclear-news

China protecting North Korea’s nuclear secrets

China has told UN security council members it plans to block publication of the organisation’s special report that accuses North Korea of violating sanctions on its nuclear programme.

China to block UN report on North Korean nuclear capability, guardian.co.uk, 18 Feb 2011, Report says uranium enrichment programme and development of a light-water reactor are serious violations of UN sanctions 

China has told UN security council members it plans to block publication of the organisation’s special report that accuses North Korea of violating sanctions on its nuclear programme.

The UN panel of experts on North Korea submitted a report on 27 January to the security council’s sanctions committee, which monitors compliance with UN sanctions imposed on the Pyongyang administration after it carried out nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

Western diplomats told Reuters that China informed council members it would block the publication and transfer of the report to the full council. They said China’s move was odd since one of the experts who prepared the report, Xiaodong Xue, is Chinese.

The report, seen by Reuters, says North Korea almost certainly has several more undisclosed enrichment-related facilities and that its uranium enrichment programme and development of a light-water reactor are serious violations of UN sanctions.

The report of the panel, which includes experts from the five permanent security council members plus South Korea and Japan, was partly based on conversations with US nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, who saw about 2,000 centrifuges used to enrich uranium when he visited the country last year.

On Wednesday, the North Korean sanctions committee is due to present its quarterly update on compliance with the UN sanctions.

Western diplomats said they hoped the sanctions committee could meet before then, but China has made it difficult to schedule a meeting and wants the update to contain as few details as possible of the panel’s enrichment assessment and Hecker’s visit to North Korea.

Security council members have the power to block decisions and this is not the first time that Beijing has imposed a veto. Diplomats say it is emblematic of China’s increasingly self-confident approach to international diplomacy as it seeks to protect states like North Korea to which it has close ties.

China to block UN report on North Korean nuclear capability | World news | guardian.co.uk

February 19, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, politics international