`NK Launch to Be Brought to UN Security Council`

South Korea, Japan and the United States yesterday agreed to take action at the U.N. Security Council if North Korea launches a rocket early next month as planned.

U.S. President Barack Obama also decided to include the North’s rocket launch in the main agenda of his summit Thursday with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

“President Obama will touch upon economic cooperation a great deal, and he wants to discuss our shared concerns about preparations in North Korea for a launch that the United States would consider to be counter to the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718,” Denis McDonough, the National Security Council’s director of strategic communications, said Saturday when outlining the agenda of the meeting to be held on the sidelines of the G20 economic summit in London next month.

South Korea`s top nuclear negotiator Wi Sung-lac, President Obama’s chief representative on North Korea Stephen Bosworth, and Japanese nuclear envoy Akitaka Saiki held a series of bilateral and trilateral meetings in Washington Friday.

After the discussions, Wi said, “We have discussed how to deal with the rocket launch at the U.N. Security Council. It would be in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718, and North Korea will face consequences.”

Saiki said, “We will immediately discuss the matter at the U.N. Security Council (if North Korea carries out the launch). I believe there was no disagreement on that.”

sechepa@donga.com