UN resolution boosts coordination on N. Korea

No East Asian nation thinks the 15-0 UN resolution to block the shipment of missile parts to North Korea is ideal or even adequate. Kim Jong Il still has missiles and nuclear material to develop. No clear next step is prepared, other than cajoling Mr. Kim back to the six-party talks, experts say. UN Resolution 1695 is a "prelude to the provocation of the second Korean War" says the North's foreign ministry.

But the surprising unanimous vote and smiles at the round table in New York may be the best achievable deal for now, and may offer grounds for further coordination, these experts say. Any next steps to control the North will require a degree of cooperation that has not yet been seen.

China, notably, shifted in ways that were unanticipated days earlier. After numerous fruitless visits to Pyongyang in recent weeks, Beijing appeared annoyed with the North – partly over Japan's success in developing leverage in Asia by arguing that a more robust military is needed for its self-defense.

For the North, the timing seems unfortunate. The Israel-Lebanon conflict has put the world on even higher alert than when Kim launched Scuds, Nodongs, and the long-range Taepodong-2 missile early on July 4, US Independence Day. North Korea was not the top story at the G-8 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Rather, northeast Asia's missile minicrisis suddenly evolved in a way that leading powers could agree about: a need to work together to face intractable problems each would rather handle differently.

"An important milestone," is Tokyo's official word, despite Japan's earlier hope for a Chapter Seven resolution requiring action against North Korea. "A turning point," stated Zhang Yu, China's spokeswoman, saying right after that no further action should be taken against the North.

"It's good news that it was unanimous," says Albert Kim, a retired senior United Nations official in Seoul. "China is angry with North Korea. Everyone is in agreement.

"Nobody wants a war," adds Kim. "This resolution was the strongest you could have without talking about war."

China found a need to choose between very different interests and values. It has invested in a program to help stabilize North Korea as a regional partner.

Yet it has an interest in not being isolated in the international community by siding with a pariah state. It also has to take into account the success of the United States and Japan in convincing the international community that the missile tests went too far. The US is committed to defending Japan, a longtime ally, and Japan is a main target for Kim's missiles.

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