If N. Korea Talks Fail, U.S. Will Seek Oil Cutoff

The United States will ask the U.N. Security Council to impose an oil embargo on North Korea if the Pyongyang government continues to reject international inspection of its nuclear installations, a top Clinton Administration official said Sunday.

“The denuclearization of North Korea is essential for a safe world,” White House Chief of Staff Thomas (Mack) McLarty said in a television interview.

“We’re going to pursue that, are pursuing it with discussions, and hopefully those discussions will produce a satisfactory result,” he said. “The next step, I think, would be on the economic front, would be consideration of certain embargoes, particularly petroleum.”

Speaking on ABC’s “This Week With David Brinkley,” McLarty noted that imposing an oil embargo on North Korea would require the approval of Security Council members, including China, North Korea’s main trading partner. But the Administration believes that Beijing might join in an embargo because China, like Japan and the United States, is worried about the prospect of a North Korea with nuclear weapons, he said.

U.S. officials have spoken previously of economic sanctions as an option in the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. But McLarty’s comments suggest that President Clinton has settled on a strategy that focuses on an oil embargo as his next major step.

In a meeting at the United Nations on Dec. 10, the United States asked North Korea to open all its nuclear installations to international inspection, and held out the prospect of normalized diplomatic relations and even possible economic aid in return.

Publicly, North Korea rejected the offer.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher said last week that the United States is still hoping for a more positive response in private.

McLarty’s statement that the next step would be seeking an oil embargo appeared aimed at both increasing pressure on North Korea and China, and calming fears at home that military action might be the only way to enforce the U.S. demand for denuclearization.

North Korea has virtually no oil resources of its own, and is highly dependent on China and other suppliers for fuel other than coal.

U.S. officials say an oil embargo against Pyongyang could be very effective, and could diminish the fighting ability of North Korea’s armed forces--depending on China’s willingness to enforce the sanctions.

McLarty and Christopher gave no deadline for the current diplomatic efforts.

McLarty also spoke about the struggle over the U.S. defense budget, and suggested that Clinton might decide to make further cuts in military personnel.

McLarty said he agrees in principle with Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who proposed cutting the projected force level from 1.4 million to 1.3 million troops.

Defense Secretary Les Aspin has complained that the Administration’s budget plans for the next five years will leave the Pentagon $50 billion short of what it needs to meet its military goals.

Aspin resigned the defense post last week, apparently at Clinton’s request, but is remaining on the job until next month. McLarty confirmed reports that the President is considering naming Aspin ambassador to China.