FINAL EXAM:

North Korea and the US 'on a slide towards conflict' (Tracy McVeigh, April 6, 2003, The Observer)

War in North Korea is now almost inevitable because of the country's diplomatic stalemate with America, a senior UN official claims.

Ahead of this week's crucial talks between members of the UN Security Council, Maurice Strong, special adviser to the Secretary General Kofi Annan, was gloomy on the chances of a peaceful settlement.

'I think war is unnecessary, it's unthinkable and unfortunately it's entirely possible,' he said.

Strong, who has just returned from a private mission for Annan in North Korea and is due to report to UN officials in New York tomorrow, said he felt both North Korea and America seemed to think they had time on their side but were both
on a slide towards war.

On Wednesday the UN security council will hear America's demand for sanctions against North Korea, which it accuses of planning to develop nuclear weapons.

The Communist state has already said it would regard any such move as an 'act of war' and yesterday further warned that it would ignore any UN resolutions on the issue.

Here's an excellent final chance for the UN to demonstrate that it is not entirely irrelevant. If they can't bring themselves to impose conventional sanctions against a communist tyranny that is engaged in nuclear proliferation then pulling the plug on the institution would be a mercy killing. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 7, 2003 6:49 PM