U.S. seeks statement on North by the UN

A U.S. State Department spokesman, Philip Reeker, said yesterday that the United States would seek a statement by the president of the UN Security Council reflecting the views of that body’s members on the North’s nuclear weapons program. That would be the next step in the U.S. campaign against the North’s nuclear programs, but a less formal one than trying for a formal resolution by the body. Earlier this year, the council took no action on U.S. requests for a resolution condemning the North Korean weapons programs; China and Russia expressed their opposition to such a measure.
North Korea’s state-run Minju Joson newspaper said yesterday that it was only a matter of time before U.S. pressure led to war. Overt U.S. plans to bomb the North’s nuclear sites, it said, were tantamount to a war declaration.