WASHINGTON – At the risk of triggering a military confrontation, the Obama administration is pressing for new U.N. steps aimed at cutting off North Korea’s ability to peddle its nuclear wares, including an arrangement to interdict air and sea shipments of nuclear materials and hardware to and from North Korea.The core U.S. concern is that North Korea, in cementing its position as a nuclear power, could accelerate the global spread of nuclear knowhow and weapons, along with ballistic missiles.But if the U.N. effort provides authority to forcibly board vessels in international waters on suspicion of carrying banned materials, as advocated by the U.S., it could prompt a violent reaction from the North Koreans. North Korea has said publicly many times that U.N. penalties would amount to an act of war.North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper said Monday that Pyongyang “will consider any sanction a declaration of war and will take due corresponding self-defense measures.”U.N. diplomats were to meet Monday to discuss a resolution in response to North Korea’s announced underground nuclear test May 25. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg led an administration delegation to Asian capitals last week seeking to build consensus on a tougher approach to North Korea.President Barack Obama said Saturday that his patience with a defiant North was wearing thin.On Monday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama will discuss the North Korean situation with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak during a White House meeting on June 16. The U.S. also protested North Korea’s sentencing Monday of two American journalists to 12 years in a prison camp.North Korea has been widely criticized for its nuclear test and its numerous test launches of ballistic missiles, but whether the Obama administration can win a U.N. resolution with real teeth is unclear.”We’re looking at a whole broad range of options, including interdiction,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Monday. He declined to go into specifics, saying much would depend on the talks at the U.N.Victor Cha, who was director of Asian affairs at the White House from 2004-07 and is now the top Korea expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said additional U.N. steps to squeeze North Korea’s ability to trade in nuclear- and missile-related resources could make a welcome difference.”There’s nothing that’s going to be air tight,” Cha said, but he said any additional steps in that direction could help.He noted the possibility of the U.N. authorizing inspection of suspicious containers in ports and the use of radiation detectors at terminals, in addition to authority to forcibly board ships.After North Korea detonated its first nuclear device in October 2006, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 1718, which imposed a multilateral ban on exports to – and imports by – North Korea of materials, goods and technologies that could contribute to its nuclear or missile programs, as well as big-ticket conventional arms such as battle tanks, combat aircraft and large-caliber artillery systems.That U.N. resolution called for all countries to inspect cargo to and from North Korea to enforce the prohibition, “as necessary,” and consistent with each nation’s laws. But it has not been enforced at sea.State Department officials say they want, at the least, to get U.N. member countries to enforce the 2006 resolution. China, North Korea’s biggest trade partner and only political ally, accepted the 2006 resolution but argued in the aftermath that the move does not obligate China to interdict ships.China and Russia contend that interdicting ships at sea might provoke the North into a military response and at the very least discourage it from returning to talks on its nuclear program. The U.S. and Britain counter that most inspections of ships would be done, at less risk, at ports rather than on the high seas.While China is angry over its communist ally’s behavior and is loath to appear out of step with other powers, it has shown itself to be reluctant to support or implement tough measures. Among the leadership’s concerns is that tightening the squeeze on Pyongyang could trigger a collapse of the North Korean regime, sending refugees streaming across the border.William Tobey, a nuclear nonproliferation expert at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, said the most important goal of the interdiction efforts should be preventing North Korea from exporting its nuclear weapons and technologies.”That’s where the real threat exists,” he said.There would be less to gain from trying to shut off North Korean imports for its nuclear program, which is already well advanced, Tobey said. He considers the North’s potential for selling its nuclear wares to be a bigger threat to the world at large than the possibility of it actually starting a nuclear war – a concern shared by Obama administration officials, among them Obama’s national security adviser, James Jones.”The regime’s fundamental interest is in survival,” said Tobey, a former deputy administrator for nuclear nonproliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Stuff pita bread pockets with fresh fruit and fat-free yogurt for a sweet but healthy snack. Photo by MCCLATCHY