The same week, the U.S. government took other steps in its campaign to force these governments to abandon development of any means of nuclear defense. On September 11 the White House claimed the DPRK had developed a missile with the range to hit any area of the United States. The next day the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a U.S.-sponsored resolution giving Tehran an October 31 deadline to prove it is not developing nuclear weapons. The United Nations agency will place the matter on the UN Security Council agenda for possible sanctions if the Iranian government does not comply.

The threat of being stopped on the high seas will make it “expensive and difficult” for the two countries to transport arms components, an unnamed U.S. State Department official told reporters. USA Today said that such actions are “intended to squeeze the North Korean economy by threatening its exports of missiles and other weapons.”

The “Proliferation Security Initiative” would involve 10 sets of maneuvers in the Arabian Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and elsewhere over the next six months, according to the September 9 State Department press briefing in Washington. The imperialist forces of Australia, Germany, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States will take part, along with those of Poland.

The Chinese, Russian, and south Korean governments have said they will not join the exercises. Along with Pyongyang and Washington, they participated in the recent talks in Beijing that renewed pressure on north Korea to abandon its nuclear arms program.

The legality of the searches will be decided on a “case by case” basis, said the U.S. official. White House spokespeople have expressed frustration at the outcome of one such recent action. Last December, Spanish and German navy ships seized a north Korean vessel heading for Yemen with a cargo of missiles. After protests from the DPRK and Yemeni governments the boat was released. The shipment was allowed to proceed, reported the September 10 USA Today, “because Yemen is an ally in the U.S. war on terrorism and promised the purchase would be its last from North Korea.”

While saying that it will participate in a new round of talks with the governments of the United States, Japan, south Korea, China, and Russia, Pyongyang stated September 12 “the U.S. demand for the DPRK’s dismantling of its nuclear weapons program through irreversible verification is unacceptable.” Such a stance, said the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, “means that the DPRK should completely disarm itself and succumb to the U.S.”

Iran, likewise, is the target of increased pressure from the imperialist powers. On September 12 a meeting of the IAEA adopted a motion demanding that Iran “prove” it is not developing nuclear weapons. Sponsored by the Australian, Canadian, and Japanese representatives, the resolution was promoted by Washington and, according to the AFP, “won firm support from key allies France and Germany.” It instructed Iran to “remedy all failures” in compliance with IAEA inspectors, who began their work in February. The inspectors claim that Iran has hidden its attempts to enrich uranium.

Earlier, Tehran’s foreign minister, Kamal Kharrazi, accused “some Western countries” of a “deliberate attempt…to torpedo the process of cooperation and remove the agency [IAEA] from the process.”

“The prevailing view seems to favor consensus,” Kharrazi added. “This can lead to accelerated cooperation on our part.”  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home