Rice: N. Korea must give up nukes

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says North Korea must be ready to forgo nuclear weapons if six-party talks to be held this month are to succeed.

"What we really need is a strategic decision on the part of the North (Koreans) that they are indeed ready to give up their nuclear weapons because without that these talks cannot be successful," Rice said at a news conference on Tuesday with Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Macjimura.

America's top diplomat was speaking from Tokyo on the third leg of an Asian tour that will conclude with talks in Seoul on Pyongyang's nuclear program.

On Saturday, Pyongyang's state-run news agency KCNA and U.S. officials said North Korea agreed to return to the talks after Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Kye Gwan met with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill in Beijing.

The meeting was remarkable, since U.S. officials as a rule have not been meeting with North Korean officials outside of New York.

Restarting the talks has become more urgent after Pyongyang declared this year it had nuclear weapons, setting its neighbors and much of the rest of the world on edge.

"We are both hopeful that these talks will be successful. We talked about the importance of the North Koreans making a strategic choice and coming to the talks ready to negotiate seriously," Rice said.

After more than a year's hiatus, the talks that include the United States, Japan, China, Russia and both Koreas are scheduled to resume the week of July 25.

Re #4

More pressure on China, its main cover, including even more belligerent Japan, and mounting economic problems.

And large-scale troop withdrawal from Iraq, which may turn up in E. Asia for a potential firework. That should worry both China and N. Korea.

If they actually got rid of their nukes permanently for $10 billion from us, I'd call that a good deal. Of course they wouldn't actually do that. They'd do everything they could to get both the money and the nukes. This is what they are going try to do at the 6 party talks. From North Korea's standpoint, they'd be crazy to give up their nukes. They have no friends. Their biggest "ally" China sees more profit in aligning with South Korea than with them. They're cornered and nukes are the only assurance of security they have. They're also great for international blackmail.

Our bargaining position is terrible right now via North Korean nukes. What can we possibly offer them to give up their nukes? Food aid? Since when does Kim Jong Il care about his people? Besides, if his people weren't starving, they might have enough energy to revolt. Money? They'll just want more and more and never give up nukes.

As it stands right now, there's no way this is going to end well. The only answer to this situation is missile defense. Along with Japan, we should spare no expense to develop a functioning system. Also, by rattling our saber over missile defense we would encourage a grudgingly helping China to step up pressure on North Korea. The last thing they want is missile defense in Japan and the U.S. We tell China "you help us or else you get missile defense", get them to heavily lean on North Korea to give up nukes, and then build missile defense anyway. Missile defense would also decrease the utility of nukes for North Korea, making them somewhat less dependent on them (I know this is a stretch, but our options are few and small here).

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