USUN INSTRUCTION: UNSC SESSION ON DPRK/UNSC

UNCLAS STATE 094916 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KN PARM PREL UNSC SUBJECT: USUN INSTRUCTION: UNSC SESSION ON DPRK/UNSC RESOLUTION 1874 ¶1. (U) This is an action request, please see paragraph 2. ¶2. (SBU) BACKGROUND/ACTION REQUEST: The UN Security Council is scheduled to discuss DPRK/UNSC Resolution 1874 in closed consultations on Monday, September 14, 2009. Originally, this session was intended for the Council to review an interim report from the DPRK Panel of Experts (POE), established in UNSC Resolution 1874. Although Resolution 1874 requested this report by September 12, the POE will not be constituted in time to meet this deadline. We expect the Secretariat will brief the Council on the delay and suggest that the POE be given an additional sixty days to prepare a detailed and comprehensive report. The Council may then choose to review the report at the next regularly-scheduled 90-day briefing by the UNSC 1718 Committee in mid-November. USUN may draw upon the points outlined in paragraph 3 during the session. ¶3. (U) BEGIN POINTS: -- I would like to thank the Secretariat for providing us with an update on the Panel of Experts. -- I would also like to welcome Ambassador Apakan to the chairmanship of the 1718 Committee. I have no doubt you will continue the excellent work of your predecessors. We are also particularly grateful to Mr. Corman, under whose interim chairmanship the Committee accomplished a number of major tasks set forth in Resolution 1874. -- We regret the Panel of Experts is not yet fully operational and carrying out its important work. We recognize, however, that the Panel will need more time to prepare a comprehensive and detailed interim report, including recommendations on how to improve implementation of the relevant measures. This is acceptable to us. -- The Panel already has one big item on its agenda: the sanctions violation reported by a member state to the Committee last month. We hope the Panel will help the Committee investigate this case thoroughly and recommend ways to detect and prevent future violations. -- In this regard, we note the Council recently referred North Korea's September 3 letter to the Committee. -- As I noted last week, this letter - in which North Korea rejected resolution 1874 and made disturbing, but unverifiable claims about its nuclear program - was apparently triggered by the 1718 Committee's request for information regarding the sanctions violation reported by a Member State in August. -- This letter certainly raises serious concerns. We hope the Panel can review this letter carefully, as it has implications for the full implementation of the measures imposed in resolutions 1718 and 1874. END POINTS. CLINTON