June 9 (Bloomberg) -- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he is confident that China will back U.S. efforts to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea in response to its nuclear-bomb test and missile launches.

“I believe China is on board, together with the major countries of the Security Council,” Ban, 64, said today during an interview with Bloomberg News. “I am confident that they will come out with unified and strong measures to ensure there are no further such actions by North Korea.”

Ban said he has been in touch with Chinese leaders and “fully appreciates” their role in negotiations on a draft resolution that would try to curb loans and money transfers to the government in Pyongyang. The proposed measure also would support the interdiction at sea of cargo ships suspected of carrying materials that might abet North Korea’s nuclear or missile programs.

North Korean defiance has global implications for efforts to control the spread of nuclear arms, making a firm and unified response by world powers essential, he said.

Climate Push

The former South Korean foreign minister, speaking at the mid-point of his five-year UN term, said he is pleased with progress toward a possible global agreement this year on measures to mitigate climate change. From a handful of world leaders who backed his initiative two years ago, Ban said more than 100 will meet in New York on Sept. 22 to discuss an accord.

“This is politically, morally and historically a must,” Ban said of a climate-change treaty.

Ban, saying he has no political ambitions in South Korea, suggested he would be a candidate for a second term as UN chief beginning in 2012. He pointed to his efforts to direct world attention to suffering after disasters such as the cyclone that hit Myanmar last year and the war in Sri Lanka.

Talks on North Korea in New York, which also include envoys from Japan, South Korea, Russia, Britain and France, continued today. The measure would also impose a total arms embargo, freeze the assets and ban the travel of top government officials, and bar the refueling of North Korean ships at sea.

China has close economic and political ties to North Korea and holds a permanent Security Council seat, amplifying the significance of any punitive measures it might support.

‘Making Progress’

“We’re making progress, but we’re not done yet,” U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters after a closed meeting of the diplomats at the UN. “We’re all working through a large set of very complex, difficult issues.”

Ban said he was “very much concerned” about the threat posed to his native country and the world by North Korea. The North set off a nuclear weapon in a test on May 25 and followed it with short-range missile launches.

“This goes beyond the Korean peninsula,” Ban said of North Korea’s nuclear challenge. “This has very serious negative implications to global nuclear non-proliferation issues. Therefore, the Security Council should send a strong, unified and firm message.”

Tensions in the region increased today as North Korea said it would carry out a “merciless offensive” with nuclear weapons if provoked, the Associated Press reported. Its latest rhetoric may have been aimed at deterring any Security Council agreement on sanctions, AP said.

Communication With North

Ban said he has been frustrated in his efforts to establish a channel of communication with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s regime. He noted that North Korea hasn’t sent its foreign minister to the UN since joining the world body in 1991.

On the other major nuclear proliferation issue he confronts, Ban said Iran must assure the international community that its uranium enrichment program is for peaceful purposes. Iran also has defied Security Council demands to halt its nuclear program.

“They complain that they are not able to have this peaceful use of nuclear energy, but there is clearly a lack of confidence,” Ban said. “When it comes to credibility and trust, that is not what we have yet from Iran.”

China also is making a positive contribution to talks on a climate change treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, Ban said. The government in Beijing is “quite serious” and there is “not a big gulf” between its commitment to clean energy and U.S. proposals to cut greenhouse gas emissions, he said.

Talks With China

The U.S. said today that talks with China have been “fruitful and productive” for the world’s largest producers of greenhouse gases as they seek common ground.

Accord between the two countries, which release about 40 percent of the manmade greenhouse gases that are blamed for global warming, is considered critical for a new treaty. The three-day meetings in Beijing end tomorrow.

Ban said that while U.S. proposals to cut greenhouse gases fall short of UN targets, he is pleased with President Barack Obama’s commitment to the issue.

“I don’t want to criticize,” Ban said. “Let us be realistic. They joined late. The whole world is looking to the U.S. for leadership and they are clearly taking a leadership role.”

The UN has called for cuts of 25 percent to 40 percent by 2020. The U.S. proposes a 4 percent cut in that time frame.

Ban said he urged all nations to “be more ambitious, more concrete” in setting targets.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Varner at the United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 9, 2009 18:11 EDT