At the United Nations, members of the Security Council listened to the South and North Koreans present their version of events and the results of their investigation. South Korea and its allies wanted to send a clear, unequivocal message to North Korea that its behavior would not be tolerated. But no one was sure how to do that. China would veto any UN resolution condemning the DPRK. The U.S. ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, explored different options, while Kurt Campbell, the top man in charge of Asia at the State Department, traveled to Seoul to discuss these options with the South Koreans. The Security Council finally compromised and, in a presidential statement, condemned the Cheonan attack without naming North Korea as the perpetrator. Such statements were not resolutions; they were not binding and carried little weight. Hillary had been keeping tabs on the discussion while juggling other crises and traveling twenty-one thousand miles to Latin America and Europe.
