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N. Korea defiant as U.S. talks tough
Staff and wires
PYONYANG, North Korea -- North Korea says it will not cave in to United States pressure to back down over plans to activate nuclear reactors it says are needed to generate electricity. In media reports Sunday, the reclusive Communist state said it still hoped to settle the issue peacefully but blamed the U.S. for escalating the crisis with bellicose statements. The defiant stand comes as Washington reveals a policy of "tailored containment" to deal with the North Korean situation. A senior Bush administration official told CNN Saturday the policy -- which has been agreed to by President George W. Bush -- is intended to put maximum financial and political pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. The North Korean government on Saturday staged a 10,000-person rally Saturday to denounce the United States, an event seen as part of Pyongyang's strategy to put a wedge between Washington and Seoul. In the rally, speakers called on all North Koreans to mount a "sacred anti-U.S. resistance" to drive the U.S. "imperialist aggressors" out of South Korea. The North's official Korean Central News Agency said Pyongyang had consistently maintained that the nuclear issue could be resolved through dialogue and "especially through the conclusion of a non-aggression treaty". But the U.S. was turning away from this proposal and "rushing headlong into extremely dangerous confrontation", the agency said. Under "tailored containment", the Bush administration plans to work with the International Atomic Energy Agency to bring North Korea's case before the U.N. Security Council, the official said. The United Nations could declare North Korea in violation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and perhaps impose economic sanctions, thereby increasing international pressure on North Korea to discontinue its nuclear programs, the official said. The plan also calls for the United States to encourage North Korea's neighbors to limit or even sever their economic ties with Pyongyang, according to the official. Japan and South Korea have already cut off oil shipments to the country. The policy has an active military component as well. U.S. vessels could intercept missile shipments from North Korea to cut into their profits from weapons sales, the official said. The White House insists it will not negotiate with North Korea until it abandons its nuclear weapons programs. A senior Bush administration official said the United States would be willing to hold low-level talks if North Korea had something constructive to say, but as one official put it, "there would be no deal-making." The U.S. stance may put it at odds with China, however, which on Sunday reiterated its position that "dialogue between all the concerned parties" is the desired method of dealing with North Korea. The foreign ministers of China and South Korea discussed the emerging crisis in telephone call Saturday night, China's state run news agency reports. "We attach great importance to recent developments," the report quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Jianchao as saying. "We believe the 1994 nuclear accord is useful for ensuring peace on the Korean Peninsula. All parties involved have the responsibility to abide by the accord. We hope that through dialogue the rising tension of the situation can be defused." (Full story) In other diplomatic moves Saturday, South Korea has sent high-level delegates to China and Russia in a bid to increase pressure on Pyongyang to pull back from its current nuclear stance. Government officials said Saturday South Korea would also arrange a meeting of tripartite talks with the United States and Japan early next month, the Yonhap news agency reported.(Full Story) Nuclear inspectors to leave N. KoreaMeanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency has announced its monitors will leave North Korea on Tuesday, complying with the communist nation's decision to expel them and restart its frozen nuclear programs. IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei told CNN that North Korea could be producing weapons-grade plutonium "in the next month or two." "It's a country in a defiant mode right now," ElBaradei said. "The attitude there [is] if they use their nuclear capability they might get a better negotiating position." The IAEA decided to comply with the expulsion because Pyongyang had not responded to a letter ElBaradei wrote asking North Korea to allow the remaining two inspectors to remain at the Yongbyon plant to install seals and cameras. North Korea announced Friday it decided to expel the inspectors and resume reprocessing spent fuel rods at its Yongbyon plant, a facility capable of making weapons-grade plutonium. The United States believes that North Korea has already built at least three nuclear warheads. There is enough plutonium at the Yongbyon plant to build at least two more, U.S. officials estimate.
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