China blocks UN report on N. Korea’s new nuke facility
By ANIThursday, February 24, 2011
NEW YORK - China is blocking the release of a report by a UN expert panel on the revelations of a new and highly sophisticated uranium enrichment plant in North Korea, according to Security Council diplomats. ccording to The Telegraph, many council members pushed for the publication of the report, arguing that all 192 UN member states should have access to its findings, according diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity.
The report which found that Pyongyang is ignoring UN sanctions and continuing its nuclear enrichment program contains recommendations on how to improve Pyongyang’s compliance with sanctions imposed after illegal nuclear and missile tests in 2006 and 2009.
The council discussed the report behind closed doors during a briefing by Portugal’s UN Ambassador Jose Filipe Moraes Cabral, who heads the council committee monitoring UN sanctions against the North aimed at reining in its nuclear program.
The United States has been working with China, Japan, Russia and South Korea since 2003 to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear programs through a framework known as the six-party talks. Those talks ended in December 2008 and have not resumed.(ANI)
