China said yesterday that it does not want the United Nations Security Council to get involved currently in the nuclear issue in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
But the International Atomic Energy Agency has China's support in passing a resolution on the issue and reporting Pyongyang to the United Nations Security Council, foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a regular press conference yesterday.
"We think this resolution stresses the hope that the DPRK nuclear issue can be resolved peacefully and that it supports diplomatic means to realize that goal," Zhang said.
"We feel that we should take care not to make things more complicated. Therefore, we feel at the current stage that the Security Council should not get involved in the settlement of the issue," she said.
China holds that all regional and international disputes should be settled peacefully through dialogue and opposes any approach that involves exerting pressure and imposing sanctions, she said.
"It is vital to seek a 'most effective way' to resolve the DPRK nuclear issue," she added.
The International Atomic Energy Agency met on Wednesday and decided to report to all members of the agency, to the Security Council and to the General Assembly on Pyongyang's "non-compliance" and the agency's inability to verify the non-diversion of nuclear material that is subject to safeguards. This might set in motion a process that could lead to sanctions against Pyongyang for its suspected nuclear weapons program.
"China always holds that dialogue is better than confrontation. The only correct and effective approach to the solution of the DPRK nuclear issue is through constructive dialogue and consultations on the basis of equality, especially sincere and pragmatic dialogue held directly between the parties concerned," Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yan said at the meeting of the agency's Board of Governors in Vienna on Wednesday.
He urged the parties involved to continue to exercise restraint and refrain from taking any action that could escalate the issue.
Ambassador Zhang said China believed that "the UN Security Council's involvement at this stage might not necessarily contribute to the settlement of the issue."
(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2003)
