U.S. Continues Pressing NK on Nuke Program

The U.S. government denounced a New York Times report that it was attempting to hamper North Korean exports after granting permission for the production of plutonium in the communist state.

Regarding the North nuclear program, the U.S. said on May 5, “It will continue the diplomacy President Bush put forth based on continued dialogue with the North and cooperation with the U.N. and regional allies.”

Secretary of State Colin Powell noted that the U.S. didn`t want the North to acquire nuclear weapons, denouncing the NYT report. He also said that the “U.S. will collaborate with regional allies including South Korea, Japan, China, Russia, and Australia,” and that “the U.S. will establish a solid coalition so that the North sees the only option is to discard, or destroy any facilities where nuclear weapons can be developed.”

He went on to say that a strong regional coalition would assure the North of the fact that regardless of its ongoing development or future plans, export of its weapons will not be tolerated.

Secretary Powell urged that the North should realize that nuclear development and illegal drug sales would not ease its economic crisis and that nuclear development and exporting of nuclear materials would lead to dangerous consequences.

“North Korea`s nuclear program should be completely dismantled since the most sophisticated detectors cannot locate secret deals and transfer routes of nuclear materials,” a NYT editorial stated yesterday.

The NYT also said that the U.S. should return to the negotiating table and deliver a clear message that the only way for the North to sustain its regime was not to possess but to discard its nuclear weapons. In a press briefing that day, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, “The U.S. still aims to end the North`s nuclear program in a verifiable and irreversible manner.”

“The White House has never announced nor implied it would accept the North’s aspirations to gain possession of nuclear weapons,” Boucher explained. “Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is a common goal for the international community.”

The White House spokesman also said that the U.S. stance has not changed, and that the international community was concerned over the North’s possible possession and transfer of nuclear weapons or materials.

maypole@donga.com