Rice says US military is a deterrent to N. Korea nukes, UN sanctions an option

AFP ^ | 04/21/05

[TigerLikesRooster]

Rice says US military is a deterrent to NKorea nukes, UN sanctions an option

Thu Apr 21, 9:58 AM ET

VILNIUS (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said US forces present a "significant deterrent" against any North Korean nuclear threat and she may yet seek UN Security Council sanctions against Pyongyang.

"The North Koreans are not confused about the fact that the United States maintains a significant deterrent against North Korean nuclear weapons if indeed they have gotten to that state," she told Fox television in an interview here.

"I think they are not confused about the fact that we have a very strong military alliance on the Korean peninsula that is actively deterring North Korean aggression."

North Korea has shut down its only functioning nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, and told a visiting US specialist that it plans to unload spent nuclear fuel from the plant and reprocess it into weapons-grade plutonium.

Fuel can only be unloaded once a plant is shut down.

Two years ago, North Korea said it unloaded and reprocessed spent fuel from the reactor, producing enough plutonium for six to eight atom bombs.

US intelligence says the communist state is believed to possess one or two crude nuclear bombs from plutonium diverted from the reactor in previous decades.

Rice, in Vilnius for meetings with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), said the United States would only negotiate with North Korea within the framework of six-nation talks, which also include South Korea, China, Russia, and Japan.

The last round of six-party talks was held in June last year. Negotiations stalled in September 2004 when North Korea failed to turn up. In February this year, the Stalinist state said it had nuclear weapons for self-defense against what it said was a hostile US policy.

"Our aim is indeed to get the North Koreans to abandon their nuclear weapons ambitions. But we are only going to do that in a context in which they face the entire international community, not just us," Rice said.

"Now we reserve the right and the possibility of going to the Security Council, should it be necessary, of putting other measures in place, should it be necessary."

Rice refused to say how long she could wait before taking the matter to the United Nations for possible sanctions.

"I don't like trying to give timelines, because you should always assess these situations. We are absolutely willing, when the time is right, when we believe that we have exhausted the possibilities of the framework we are in, to go to the Security Council."

South Korea opposes referral of North Korea to the United Nations Security Council at this stage.

South Korea's top nuclear negotiator, Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon, said Thursday the United Nations should not be involved now and that six-way talks were the only viable option for an end to the nuclear standoff.

"Keeping in mind that the referral to the UN Security Council is not a panacea and can be burdensome, the government is working out countermeasures," the deputy foreign minister said in an interview with South Korea's domestic radio station CBS.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050421/pl_afp/usnkorearice_050421135854

[TigerLikesRooster]

This must be the answer to N. Korea for shutting down nuclear reactor and harvesting plutonium. Neither side has backed off so far since Feb. 10 declarartion by N. Korea that it possesses nuclear weapon.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[kellynla]

Hey, Condi, I wish US military were a deterrent to Mexico! LMAO

[Bald Eagle777]

Roger that sentiment.

[SevenofNine]

I wonder if Chia Pet Kim already had the bomb that probably reason why he shut down that nuke reactor could happen

We don't know what going on in mind of crazy Kim
Question do you think Chia Pet would invitate Condi Rice to North Korea like he did with Maddy NOT TOO BRIGHT

[SevenofNine]

I wonder if Chia Pet Kim already had the bomb that probably reason why he shut down that nuke reactor could happen

We don't know what going on in mind of crazy Kim
Question do you think Chia Pet would invitate Condi Rice to North Korea like he did with Maddy NOT TOO BRIGHT

[SevenofNine]

I wonder if Chia Pet Kim already had the bomb that probably reason why he shut down that nuke reactor could happen

We don't know what going on in mind of crazy Kim
Question do you think Chia Pet would invitate Condi Rice to North Korea like he did with Maddy NOT TOO BRIGHT

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Are you kidding? Rice, or any other Bush administration official for that matter, would never have a toast with Kim Il Jong.

"You - meet me at China Inn for great dog dish."

[Moderate right-winger]

The administration is spineless with regards to the North Korean threat. It poses a threat as much as Iraq did.

[Moderate right-winger]

The administration is spineless with regards to the North Korean threat. It poses a danger as much as Iraq did.

[SevenofNine]

Yeah you might be right I dont' think Little Kim has so called Jungle fever but UGLY women fever HELL YEAH LOLOLOL!