Powell Saying US Has No Plan for Talks with N.K.

The US turned down Oct. 25 North Korea’s demand that it would resolve the US’s security concerns if the US made a non-aggression pact with it.

As for the North’ demand, Sean McCormick, chief spokesman for the National Security Council flatly said, "North Korea should dismantle its weapons of mass destruction on its own."

Another official with the White House related that the days when the North was rewarded for its fault were gone. The US maintains the position that the North should scrap its weapons of mass destruction ahead of improvement of its relations with the US.

A senior US official who prepared a summit meeting between the US and China in the Mexico APEC conference said that in the past the North related the US-N.K meeting to withdrawal of US servicemen stationed in South Korea, but the US had no intention to remove them.

Meanwhile, in a press conference after the summit meeting among the US, South Korea and Japan, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "The US has no plan to start talks with the North about nuclear issues."

He added, "Our position is very clear. "If it stops its nuclear proliferation activities and missile development, and takes some steps about its conventional weapons, it could get a chance to pull its residents out of economic difficulties and famine." But he made it clear that the US had no intention to strike the North or take any hostile actions against it.

Ki-Heung Han eligius@donga.com