Christopher Predicts U.N. Approval of N. Korean Sanctions : Diplomacy: He voices optimism despite reluctance by China and Japan about imposing economic restraints.

Despite signals of reluctance from China and Japan about imposing economic sanctions on North Korea, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher predicted Thursday that such punitive measures would win approval if they come before the United Nations.

“We’re proceeding firmly and deliberately to seek sanctions in the U.N. Security Council, and I think they can be achieved,” he said at a news conference after a meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization foreign ministers here.

The official American optimism followed China’s rebuff Thursday of a South Korean appeal for sanctions against Pyongyang for failing to allow inspections of its nuclear facilities. The appeal came after talks between South Korean Foreign Minister Han Sung Joo and Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen in Beijing.

Although the officials agreed that the Korean Peninsula should be nuclear-free, the Chinese have insisted that sanctions would lead to an unwanted escalation of tensions in the region.

“We do not agree on sanctions, for sanctions would only serve to push the opposing sides into confrontation with one another and result in a situation that no one would like to see,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry urged patience and further negotiations--outside the United Nations--among key players.

“We are not in favor of the involvement of the U.N. Security Council in this issue,” Shen said.

But Beijing did not indicate whether it was prepared to use its U.N. veto if a resolution is formally put to a vote.

In Istanbul, Christopher said he drew a distinction between what the Chinese prefer and what they would do in the event of a U.N. sanctions vote, indicating that he thought they might abstain if other Security Council members supported it.

“There is more here than exists on the surface of some of the statements being made,” he said.

But in one of many indications of the fragile, fluid state of diplomacy on the North Korean controversy, Assistant Secretary of State Robert L. Gallucci sounded less optimistic in testimony Thursday on Capitol Hill.

Despite a series of consultations with key players in the crisis this week, he conceded that the United States could not predict how China would vote on a U.N. economic embargo.

North Korea also upped the ante Thursday by threatening Japan with war, if Tokyo supported sanctions. This was North Korea’s apparent attempt to divide key players in the dispute. North Korea would regard Japanese support “as a declaration of war and Japan would be unable to evade a deserving punishment,” the official Korean Central News Agency warned.

Although North Korea has generally threatened war in the event an international sanctions resolution is passed, Pyongyang has not threatened Japan directly or specifically. Some Japanese cities are within reach of North Korean missiles, and Tokyo has expressed concern about possible terrorist actions by Koreans living in Japan.

Remittances from Korean workers in Japan provide hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign exchange for North Korea, making Japanese support for sanctions a potentially devastating blow for Pyongyang’s already fragile economy.

North Korea is trying to rattle Japan, which has also been resisting American pressure to totally cut off Pyongyang, U.S. officials suggested Thursday.

But on the possibility of Japan wavering, Christopher said, “I have no question but that the Japanese understand the importance of sanctions, just as we do.”

In South Korea on Thursday, President Kim Young Sam talked by telephone to Japanese Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata. Afterward, a Korean presidential spokesman said, “Japan believes the nuclear conflict should be resolved through negotiations but realizes that because of North Korea’s attitude, U.N. sanctions are inevitable.”

Hata is expected to travel to South Korea and possibly China soon for further talks on the crisis.

The developments came as former President Jimmy Carter announced that he and his wife, Rosalynn, will visit Pyongyang next week for discussions with the North Korean government, ostensibly as private citizens with “no official status relating to the U.S. government.”

The White House said Thursday that Carter had been briefed by the White House on the situation involving North Korea, but declined to say whether he had been asked to carry out any sort of informal mission. Former Presidents frequently are used in such a capacity.

Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency moved Thursday to suspend technical aid to North Korea in light of recent actions that it charged widened Pyongyang’s violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

After a recommendation from 18 of 35 member countries on the IAEA board of governors, the U.N. nuclear regulatory group is expected to vote formally today. Suspension would jeopardize the $250,000 that North Korea receives annually in technical aid and support for its civilian nuclear program.

In his testimony, Gallucci said a Russian proposal for an international conference on nuclear arms on the Korean Peninsula might be “useful” in resolving the present crisis.

But the role and sequence of such a session is still under debate by major parties involved in the matter, said a Western diplomat at the United Nations.

The Clinton Administration has not yet endorsed the proposal.

This weekend, critical negotiations are expected to take place behind the scenes after Christopher returns from a 10-day trip to Britain, France and Turkey. Western diplomats said they expect the talks to iron out an agreement on a framework for action at the United Nations to move the crisis beyond deliberations.

In Japan, Hata on Thursday told opposition Socialist Party members leaving today for a Pyongyang visit that Japan and South Korea would cooperate to raise living standards in North Korea, if Pyongyang accepts international inspection of its nuclear facilities.

Times staff writer Sam Jameson in Tokyo contributed to this report.