US President George W. Bush said Sunday that good progress is being made in diplomatic attempts to end the nuclear standoff with North Korea."On the Korean peninsula, now the United States and China, along with South Korea and Japan and Russia, are sending a clear message to Kim Jong-Il, if you are interested in a different relationship, disclose and destroy your program in a transparent way," Bush told NBC television.
"In North Korea ... the diplomacy is just beginning. We are making good progress in North Korea," Bush said.
"The policy of this administration is to be clear and straightforward and to be realistic about the different threats that we face."
The United States has refused one-on-one talks with North Korea, opting instead for six-way negotiations also involving China, Russia, Japan and South Korea. A first round in August ended in stalemate.
Bush has rejected North Korea's demands for a non-aggression pact, but hinted at an Asia-Pacific summit in Bangkok last year that he was ready to explore ways to meet Pyongyang's security concerns should it give up its nuclear weapons.
Washington believes North Korea already has one or two crude nuclear bombs made from plutonium diverted from its nuclear complex at Yongbyon, 90 kilometres (50 miles) north of Pyongyang, before a 1994 nuclear freeze took effect.
North Korea, which expelled nuclear inspectors and pulled out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as the crisis deepened, has denied US accusations that it is seeking enriched uranium but said it has reprocessed 8,000 spent fuel rods at Yongbyon, diverting enough fuel for up to six more bombs.
All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.
Quick Links
SpaceWar
Search SpaceWar
Subscribe To SpaceWar Express
