The US Ambassador John Bolton said yesterday that key members of the UN Security Council agreed to put off a vote on a draft resolution that would slap sanctions on North Korea over its recent missile tests.

 

"We suspend here while diplomacy in Pyongyang proceeds," he told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, stressing that delay, decided by the cosponsors of the draft resolution, will not be infinite.

 

Bolton further explained that this decision is made to provide maximal support for effort of a Chinese diplomatic mission to Pyongyang.

 

"We're going to look at it on a daily basis," he noted, adding that he and his Japanese counterpart Kenzo Oshima would brief the council members on the latest developments later Monday.

 

The US ambassador also said that the US wants North Korea to return to the talks, and resume the moratorium on missile testing. But he refused to clarify whether the US would agree to drop sanctions if North Korea did so.

 

Japan formally presented a draft resolution on Friday, seeking sanctions against North Korea. The draft, cosponsored by Britain, France and the US, invokes Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which authorizes sanctions or even military action.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 11, 2006)