Deal on North Korea sanctions eludes U.N. powers for now

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Major world powers edged toward agreement on Tuesday on a U.N. resolution expanding sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear weapons program but were unable to close the deal, diplomats said.

"We continue to engage in intense and productive negotiations," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said. "We're making progress, but we're not done yet."

Russia, which holds a veto in the council and has had some concerns about sanctions, said consensus was emerging.

Several diplomats close to talks among the five permanent Security Council members, Japan and non-council member South Korea dismissed news reports that the seven countries had already reached agreement.

The United States and Japan have pushed for strong sanctions to punish North Korea for its nuclear test in May, but China and Russia have been cautious about provoking Pyongyang by imposing more sanctions.

"We have got the makings of a deal, but one delegation still needs to hear back from its capital," a Western diplomat close to the talks told Reuters.

Two diplomats from among the Security Council's five permanent members said they believed China had agreed with the U.S.-drafted text of a resolution within the last 24 hours, but Russia had raised new concerns.

The seven countries agreed "to continue our consultations on a draft resolution," Japanese Ambassador Yukio Takasu said. "I think it's clear that we need to spend more time, to continue the consultations."

The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a meeting of permanent council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, along with Japan and South Korea ended without resolving Russian concerns.

Other diplomats said Moscow was more concerned about language than specific proposed measures. They hoped the issue would be resolved overnight, enabling the seven nations to circulate a draft resolution on Wednesday to the full 15-nation council, which could then vote on it as early as on Friday.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said in a statement "We are satisfied that consensus is emerging."

INSPECTING CARGOES

Several diplomats had said recent versions of the draft called for moderate tightening of previous sanctions.

The initial draft circulated at the end of May among some council members strongly condemned North Korea's nuclear test and urged U.N. members to begin enforcing previously approved sanctions against Pyongyang.

It left blank a section on possible new sanctions, which have been the subject of intense negotiation at the United Nations over the past 10 days. Later drafts included language requiring U.N. member states to inspect suspicious North Korean air and sea cargo, but the Chinese opposed those provisions.

The provisions on forced inspections was likely to be dropped for the time being, Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted an unidentified U.N. diplomatic source as saying.

But the resolution was set to include new financial sanctions and was likely to anger North Korea, Kyodo reported.

Security Council resolution 1718, passed in October 2006 after Pyongyang's first nuclear test, banned further atomic explosions and long-range missile launches by North Korea and imposed limited financial sanctions and a partial trade and arms embargo on Pyongyang.

The measures have been widely ignored and left unenforced.

Other measures in recent drafts included a call for the addition of more companies to a U.N. blacklist of firms aiding Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs and expanding the arms embargo to ban the sale of all arms by North Korea, not just heavy weapons. It would still be able to import small arms.

(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed and Sue Pleming in Washington; writing by Claudia Parsons; editing by Mohammad Zargham)