LONDON Ñ The European Union has moved closer to
joining a U.S.-led campaign to seize North Korean shipments of missiles and weapons of
mass destruction to the Middle East.
The EU no longer ruled out the use of military action to stop North
Korea and other countries from exporting missiles and WMD. EU
foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg adopted a strategy that includes the
prospect of interdicting shipments to the Middle East.
The EU move was reported as Iran and North Korea have stepped up missile
and nuclear weapons cooperation. Iran has refused to allow the IAEA access
to several suspected nuclear sites, Middle East Newsline reported.
The strategy envisioned a two-stage approach to North Korea and other
missile and WMD proliferators. The first stage would comprise political
dialogue and diplomatic pressure, such as sanctions.
"When these measures have failed, coercive measures under Chapter VII of
the UN Charter and international law could be envisioned," it said.
The reference, officials said, was to what they termed selective or
global, interceptions of shipments and, as appropriate, the use of force.
They said the foreign ministers were influenced by new assessments of
progress in the nuclear weapons program of Iran and decided to link future
relations with Teheran to its agreement on more intrusive international
nuclear inspections.
The EU plan, entitled "Basic principles for an EU strategy against
proliferation of WMD," also called for increased export controls, bolstering
multilateral verification regimes and increasing the budget of the
International Atomic Energy Agency. The plan did not mention Iran or any
other country as a target of these measures.
"The acquisition of WMD or related materials by terrorists would
represent an additional threat to the international system with potentially
uncontrollable consequences," the EU document said.
On Monday, IAEA director-general Mohammed El Baradei urged Iran to sign
an additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that would
allow the agency to inspect all sites rather than those declared by Teheran.
El Baradei said Iran has failed to report nuclear activities but did not
declare Teheran as being in violation of the NPT.
"The report points out that Iran has failed to report certain nuclear
material and activities, and that corrective actions are being taken in
cooperation with Iranian authorities," El Baradei told the 35-nation IAEA
board.
