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United call for N. Korea to scrap nukesBush: U.S. will not invade N. Korea
LOS CABOS, Mexico (CNN) -- U.S. President Bush has joined with the leaders of Japan and South Korea to call on North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. He also repeated a statement made earlier this year that the United States would not invade North Korea. North Korea recently admitted to a program of producing highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons, in violation of several international agreements. In a statement issued at the annual economic summit of the 21 Asian-Pacific nations, the three leaders urge North Korea to dismantle its program "in a prompt and verifiable manner and to come into full compliance with all its international commitments." "President Bush reiterated his February statement ... that the United States has no intention of invading North Korea," the statement said, and Bush is "prepared to pursue a bold approach to transforming" relations with North Korea. Speaking before a trilateral meeting in Los Cabos, Bush said "the strategy is to make sure that our close friends and our allies and people with whom we've got relations work in concert to convince [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Il that a nuclear weapons free peninsula is in his interests, it's in South Korea's interests and it is in the world's interests." Bush, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung all expressed commitment to resolve the matter peacefully. They said they'd appeal to North Korea through diplomatic means. The statement does not threaten Pyongyang with any action if it fails to comply with demands. But the statement says "North Korea's relations with the international community now rest on North Korea's prompt and visible actions to dismantle its program."
A senior administration official, who did not want to be identified, briefed reporters aboard Air Force One, saying the U.S. strategy "first is to isolate the North Koreans, make them clear that this is not cost free, get them to think about their own future. "If they want to engage with the world, they're going to have to give up that program," the official added. The United States, Japan, and South Korea will also reach out to other nations for help, mounting pressure on North Korea, the official said. Pyongyang has claimed it is entitled to nuclear weapons to defend its sovereignty from an "ever-growing nuclear threat" posed by the United States. The North has defined the United States as its No. 1 enemy since the Korean War. In 1994, North Korea agreed to freeze an earlier nuclear program. In return, the United States promised to provide fuel oil and build two safer nuclear reactors. But the oil deliveries were frequently delayed, and work on the reactor site is years behind schedule. North Korea claims Washington violated agreements, not Pyongyang.
The White House denies North Korea's suggestion that its agreements are somehow void and rejects claims that the United States is a threat. During his 2002 State of the Union address to Congress January 29, Bush denounced Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an "axis of evil." North Korea has agreed to taking part in dialogues on the issue, and indicated it will dismantle its nuclear weapons program as part of a new agreement with Washington -- an idea the Bush administration rejects. "They can't violate their agreements and then say we violated, what will you pay us to get out of the violation," Secretary of State Colin Powell said at a news conference Saturday in Los Cabos. "Our position with respect to North Korea is clear," he said. "If you will stop nuclear proliferation activities, if you will stop these missile development activities, if you will do something about the large conventional force that hangs over the 38th parallel [separating North and South Korea], then there are great opportunities for you to benefit from a willing world that wants to help you out of the economic distress you're in, the poverty that your people are suffering." "We have no intention of invading North Korea or taking hostile action against North Korea," Powell said. U.S. officials also said that North Korea, when it admitted having a nuclear weapons program, said the 1994 agreement was "nullified" so therefore the Bush administration considers the deal effectively dead for now. -- CNN White House Correspondent Kelly Wallace contributed to this report.
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