The United States on Friday wielded both diplomacy and strength in planned talks with North Korea and said the communist nation's nuclear program is reversible.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Pyongyang's negotiating position has been weakened since its nuclear test on Oct. 9. U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718 denies the North access to funds and technology for its weapons programs, she noted in an interview with a local radio show.
"And they are coming back to talks in which China has made it very clear that it will not support North Korea's behavior," she said.
"I think we are in a different position here," she said.
"No one has to worry about anybody going wobbly. We are going to be very strong in the implementation of Resolution 1718."
After nearly a year of boycott, Pyongyang agreed earlier this week to return to the six-party talks, a denuclearization forum involving South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
Washington said the U.N. sanctions will remain in place until it verifies Pyongyang's concrete actions toward denuclearization.
At a daily briefing, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack went back to past statements by officials that the U.S. will not attack North Korea, a charge North Korea often makes to justify its need for atomic weapons for self-defense.
"I think's we've shown our commitment to diplomacy," he said.
Asked about a Washington Times article that the Pentagon was drawing up plans to strike North Korea, McCormack said that is part of standard military practice.
"Planners plan. That's what they do," McCormack said.
He said North Korea's nuclear program, despite the test of Oct. 9, can still be dismantled.
"We believe in the whole point of what we are trying to achieve in this round of talks is a reversal of that situation," McCormack said.
On resuming food aid to the North, he said the U.S. was "still uncomfortable" with the idea.
Two undersecretaries of state, Nicholas Burns and Robert Joseph, head out together to Asia this weekend, stopping in Japan, China and South Korea. They will meet Russian officials in Beijing, completing their talks with all members of the six-party talks except for North Korea.
The goal of their trip was described as ensuring the next six-party meeting produces concrete results toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The delegation will include William Tobey, deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation at the Department of Energy, Patricia McNerney, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, David Stephens, acting senior director for counterproliferation strategy, and Victor Cha, director of Asian affairs at the National Security Council.
Thomas Christensen, deputy assistant secretary of state, will join the team for meetings in Beijing.
Washington, Nov. 3 (Yonhap News)
U.S. holds up diplomacy, strength as strategy for six-party talks |
