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| Saturday, 12 February 2005 |
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US, allies urge N.Korea to reconsider nuke decision PARIS, Friday (AFP, Reuters) The United States and its allies urged North Korea to reconsider its decision to pull out of multilateral talks on its atomic program. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice immediately said Washington could deal with any nuclear threat from North Korea, but warned Pyongyang its arms ambitions would deepen its international isolation. But she played down the danger from North Korea, after it announced that it had no plans to resume six-way talks on its atomic program and claimed to have already developed a nuclear bomb to protect itself against a US attack. "We are confident... that of course the United States and its allies can deal with any potential threat from North Korea," Rice told a news conference in Luxembourg at the end of a tour of Europe and the Middle East. "North Korea, I think, understands that," the chief US diplomat said, urging the communist Asian state to choose "a different path" and rejoin the talks, involving Russia, China, Japan and South Korea, that were suspended last year. The White House emphasized that North Korea's abandoning the nuclear talks only further isolated the country and that the multiparty talks also involving Russia, China, Japan and South Korea were the path to end the nuclear standoff. "The way for North Korea to end its isolation and realize better relations with the international community is to come back to the six-party talks and discuss how we can move forward on the proposal that is on the table," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. The other parties to the nuclear talks with Pyongyang all expressed their dismay at Thursday's announcement, urging the country to reconsider. "It is regrettable.... We want North Korea's unconditional participation in six-party talks," South Korea's government said in a statement following a National Security Council meeting. "Our stance is that North Korean nuclear weapons must not be tolerated under any circumstances." South Korea said it would closely work with its allies on a response. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tokyo would keep trying to get the negotiations to resume. Meanwhile, Russia urged North Korea to return to the negotiating table and not start a new nuclear arms race. "We cannot but be disappointed with North Korea's decision," a foreign ministry spokesman said. "We are respectful of North Korea's concerns about guaranteeing its security, but at the same time we believe that this problem must be resolved through talks, rather than building up an arms race, especially a nuclear one." China's foreign ministry simply said it hoped that talks with North Korea would continue, in a statement carried by the official Xinhua news agency. |
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