The United States put pressure the UN Security Council last night to adopt a statement condemning North Korea for reviving its nuclear weapons programme.
A draft statement circulated by Washington would call on Pyongyang "to immediately and completely dismantle its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable and irreversible manner" and fully comply with international nuclear safeguard requirements.
US officials gave the draft to Britain, France, Russia and China, who have veto power on the council, after an informal meeting on the North Korean nuclear crisis on Wednesday.
China, joined by Russia, blocked a previous US effort in early April to convince the 15-nation Security Council to condemn North Korea. Washington sought the action after Pyongyang announced it was pulling out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and was enriching uranium that could be used in making bombs.
The war of words between Washington and Pyongyang has sharpened since last year, when US officials accused the North of developing nuclear weapons and President George W. Bush included it in his "axis of evil" with Iran and Iraq.
The US draft statement would note "with concern" that the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, has concluded it was unable to determine whether North Korea had diverted nuclear material for use in bombs.