If the council adopts a document “pulling up (North Korea) even a bit through sordid collusion and nexus,” the North will regard this as “an intolerable and grave infringement” on its dignity, a state committee said.
The North’s army and people “will not rule out a just, do-or-die battle to protect the sovereignty of the country,” the Committee for the Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland said in a statement carried by state media.
South Korea, pointing to the findings of a multinational investigation, has accused its communist neighbor of torpedoing the 1,200-ton corvette with the loss of 46 sailors near the disputed Yellow Sea border on March 26.
The South has announced its own reprisals, including cutting off most trade, with strong US support. It has also asked the 15-member Security Council to condemn its neighbor. Unlike many other nations, China and Russia, two of the council’s five permanent members, have not publicly accused Pyongyang of being behind the sinking.
The North has denied any involvement in sinking the corvette and has previously threatened a military response to any UN censure.
The US envoy to China said on Tuesday China appears to be edging closer to endorsing a UN response to the sinking of a South Korean navy ship.
US President Barack Obama recently urged his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, to press North Korea about the sinking of South Korea’s ship.
Beijing has resisted, apparently worried about sacrificing influence in Pyongyang while North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il is trying to prepare succession plans in his secretive state.
China’s reluctance has frustrated South Korea and Japan, and prompted grumbling that Beijing has put its bond with North Korea before its growing role as a regional diplomatic broker.
But the US ambassador, Jon Huntsman said China looked to be closer to backing a UN Security Council response.
That would probably “take the shape and form of a presidential statement out of the Security Council,” he said.
Analysts have said China would almost certainly veto any UN resolution against the North which is already squeezed hard by UN sanctions for past missile and nuclear tests. Z“From what I can see, we’re getting very, very close in terms of all the parties coming around language that would work,” Huntsman told Reuters.
A move by China would ease discord with South Korea, a major investor and trading partner. Seoul has said it wants its prickly neighbor punished over the sinking.
Huntsman likened the wrangling over the Cheonan sinking to the negotiations that led to Beijing eventually supporting new Security Council sanctions against Iran, a major supplier of oil to China, over its disputed nuclear activities.
“Like with Iran and with the enhanced sanctions package that was completed not long ago, I think North Korea will be an example of the United States and China stepping up and working together,” he said.
