UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Japanese diplomats joined the push Tuesday to impose U.N. sanctions against North Korea for conducting an apparent underground nuclear test explosion.
"It is important that we not have a divided voice," a senior Japanese official told the Financial Times. "We're not passing sanctions for the sake of sanctions but to deliver a message to Pyongyang that, if they pursue this course, it will only lead to further isolation."
Monday night, John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Russia and China were no longer renouncing sanctions outright and he submitted a list of 13 proposed measures to the United Nations that included the authorization of international inspections of cargo to and from North Korea.
Chinese President Hu Jintao spoke by telephone with U.S. President George Bush and said no actions should be taken that would lead to escalation or loss of control of the situation.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his government also supported sanctions and called for international solidarity on the issue.
U.S. and South Korean geologists measured Monday's explosion as an earthquake of magnitude 4.2 on the Richter scale but could not confirm a nuclear explosion.
