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US planning to impose sanctions on North Korea, S Korean official says

The US is moving to impose sanctions on North Korea under a UN resolution adopted after the North's missile tests in July, a senior South Korean official said yesterday, after the communist nation reportedly rejected an offer for direct talks with Washington.

However, the US push for sanctions could be affected if North Korea returns to deadlocked six-nation talks aimed at ending its nuclear program, said the official, who is deeply involved in the nuclear talks. He asked not to be named, citing the sensitivity of the issue.

Meanwhile, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that the chief US nuclear envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, proposed a meeting with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan, during a recent stop in China but that the North rejected it. South Korean officials said they couldn't confirm the report, which cited an unidentified source.

North Korea has demanded direct talks with the US, but Washington has previously refused and said it would only speak to the North in meetings joined by other affected countries.

On Monday, Hill proposed a meeting of North Korea's neighbors and other regional powers on the sidelines of the upcoming meeting of the UN General Assembly, South Korean officials said.

The urgency of resolving the standoff grew after the North test-launched seven missiles off its eastern coast in early July, drawing international objections and prompting the UN Security Council to unanimously adopt a resolution condemning the tests. There also have been recent reports that the North might be preparing to test a nuclear bomb.

The UN resolution bans all member states from transactions with North Korean involving material or technology for missiles or weapons of mass destruction. It also says that countries should take steps to prevent the transfer of any financial resources that could be connected to the North's weapons programs.

"The United States will slap sanctions on the North," said the South Korean official, adding that Washington has already informed all countries, including South Korea, of how to implement the resolution on the North.

South Korea will "do what it needs to do," the official added.
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