A rchive Date
[ 11-01-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.S ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/01/10/10019-ap.html
U.S.: N. Korea's decision is illegal
Fri, January 10, 2003
WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States on Friday condemned North Korea's decision to quit the nuclear arms treaty and Secretary of State Colin Powell called it a "sad statement on what they think of their own people."
Powell said North Korea "has thumbed its nose at the international community. This is a very regrettable." The United States and the international community "will not be intimidated," he told reporters at the State Department. The administration "will not enter any kind of talk or dialogue where North Korea is given any impression but that they have to come into compliance," Powell said. "This kind of disrespect for this kind of agreement cannot go undealt with," he said.
Earlier, department spokesman Richard Boucher called North Korea's move illegal, saying North Korea could not abandon the treaty, which provides for international inspection, without giving 90 days notice. He said North Korea's decision to suspend its participation a decade ago and then to rejoin the accord did not count toward the 90-day period.
Britain, France, Russia, Germany and Sweden also denounced the North Korean decision. Japan called on its regional neighbor to reverse course. And South Korea said the crisis was a matter of "life and death."
The British said the U.N. Security Council should meet to discuss the withdrawal. Australia, a close U.S. ally, said it would send a diplomatic team to Pyongyang next week.
Even though North Korea has announced it is renouncing the treaty, it still has obligations under it and other accords, including a pact with South Korea, that requires it to halt its nuclear weapons programs
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is the cornerstone of international efforts to halt the spread of atomic weapons. The effect of abandoning the treaty would be to stop the International Atomic Energy Agency from monitoring its programs. North Korea in recent weeks had made monitoring difficult by removing cameras and other safeguards from its facilities.
Earlier Friday, President Bush talked by phone with Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Bush's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said the president told Jiang, "This binds us in common purpose."
Bush also told the Chinese leader the United States "has no hostile intentions toward North Korea" and seeks a peaceful solution to the standoff, Fleischer said. For his part, Jiang "reiterated China's commitment to a non-nuclear Korean peninsula," he added.
Meanwhile, two North Korean envoys met in Santa Fe, N.M., with Gov. Bill Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador and diplomatic troubleshooter. Richardson chatted briefly about the weather with his guests Friday at a picture-taking session at the governor's mansion. Asked to assess the talks, Richardson replied, "I'm not an official negotiator, but they're going well."
Fleischer said the administration had not yet received a report on the talks, but noted that the two North Korea diplomats would remain in Santa Fe for another day or two.
Vice President Dick Cheney, meanwhile, said North Korea's announcement of withdrawal "is of serious concern to North Korea's neighbors and to the entire international community."
"Their actions threaten to undermine decades of nonproliferation efforts and only further isolate the regime. North Korea's relations with the entire international community depend on their taking prompt and verifiable action to completely dismantle their nuclear weapons program," Cheney said in a speech to a business group.
Said Fleischer: "Their approach is, the worse they act the more they get and that's an approach that this administration will not be a party to."
While announcing it was withdrawing from the arms treaty, North Korea also indicated Friday it was willing to talk to Washington to end the escalating crisis.
The Bush spokesman hinted at what lay in store for North Korea - in economic development help from the United States or other regional players - if it does take if it does reverse course.
The United States had been ready to offer North Korea a "bold approach" to help the reclusive state join the community of nations, he said, before its disclosure that it had resumed its nuclear weapons program. Of Bush's phone talk with Jiang, he said, "They both agreed that North Korea's announcement that it is withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation Treaty is a concern to the entire international community."
State Department spokesman Boucher said, "We look to other governments to make clear to North Korea they should meet their obligations."
The U.S. ambassador to Moscow, Alexander Vershbow, said in Washington on Thursday that China and Russia had influence with North Korea and should use it to tell President Kim Jong Il "to calm down."
Tensions with North Korea have escalated to the point they have surpassed U.S. tensions with Iraq. But while Bush is considering war with Iraq to force it to disarm he has told North Korea he has no aggressive designs on the insular country.
The administration contends North Korea acted in bad faith during the Clinton era by carrying out a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of agreements even as it was displaying friendship toward Washington. A year after Clinton left office, Bush designated North Korea as part of an "axis of evil."
North Korea claims that leaving the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty would free it from safeguard obligations to the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency.
The announcement came as the United States was awaiting a reply from Pyongyang about its decision to open dialogue to seek a peaceful resolution of the country's nuclear weapons development. The State Department and White House had no comment Thursday on the withdrawal.
On Friday, Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the move was "a continuation of a policy of defiance and was counterproductive to on-going efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Korean peninsula."
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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