 |
|
Register Domains
|
|
|
|
|
Namibian Towns
|
|
|
|
|
Languages
|
|
|
| | |
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush on Tuesday welcomed an agreement to bring North Korea back to six-party arms talks and said the United States will insist the communist regime abandon its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable fashion.
To lure the North back, Washington agreed to discuss financial sanctions the U.S. imposed on North Korea a year ago for its alleged complicity in counterfeiting and money laundering to sell weapons of mass destruction, a top U.S. negotiator said. Those sanctions attempted to sever Pyongyang from the international financial system.
White House press secretary Tony Snow said the financial sanctions may be discussed. But he insisted the United States neither made promises nor agreed to link that dispute to the nuclear one.
"Issues like that may be discussable at some future time, but, no, there have been no offers," Snow said.
North Korea has boycotted the six-party talks since the sanctions were imposed. U.S. officials have repeatedly insisted that the financial restrictions are a separate law enforcement matter.
Bush credited China, which has more leverage than any other country with North Korea, with bringing the North back to negotiations.
"I am pleased and I want to thank the Chinese," the president told reporters in the Oval Office, after meeting with Andrew Natsios, his special envoy on Sudan.
"It's clear the North Koreans got the message from the Chinese and everybody else," said State Department spokesman Tom Casey.
The surprise announcement came three weeks after the communist regime in Pyongyang conducted its first-known test detonation of a nuclear bomb. The agreement was struck after three-way discussions hosted by the Chinese in Beijing between the senior envoys from the United States, China and North Korea.
The U.S. negotiator, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, said Washington agreed to discuss the financial sanctions the U.S. imposed on North Korea a year ago for alleged counterfeiting and money laundering.
Hill said the arms talks, which also include Japan, South Korea and Russia, could resume as early as November or December.
Bush said the agreement does not halt the United States' effort to enforce a U.N. Security Council resolution passed in response to the North's atomic test.
That resolution calls for a ban on the sale of major arms to Pyongyang and inspection of cargo entering and leaving the country. It also calls for the freezing of assets of businesses supplying North Korea's nuclear and ballistic weapons programs, as well as restrictions on sales of luxury goods and travel bans on North Korean officials.
"We'll be sending teams to the region to work with our partners to make sure that the current United Nations Security Council resolution is enforced, but also to make sure the talks are effective, that we achieve the results we want -- which is a North Korea that abandons her nuclear weapons programs and her nuclear weapons in a verifiable fashion in return for a better way forward for her people," the president said. "I'm very pleased with the progress being made in the Far East."
He added: "Obviously, we've still got a lot of work to do."
Snow said the administration views the announcement with some skepticism, given the failure so far of the six-party talks. "Trust but verify," he said.
The top Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, Rep. Tom Lantos of California, hailed the announcement but said the Bush administration should enter renewed talks ready to bargain.
"It is now incumbent upon all involved, including the administration, to return to these talks with maximum flexibility and creativity," Lantos said in a written statement.
Casey said the U.S. would enter the new round of talks insisting they start with a September 2005 agreement forged between the six nations, in which Pyongyang pledged to scrap its nuclear programs in return for aid and security assurances.
That accord ultimately produced no progress because of a dispute over timing, with the North insisting on the aid before it halted its nuclear work and the U.S. refusing to do so.
"The United States' intention is to start with the Sept. 19 agreement and not allow the North Koreans to walk it back any further," Casey said. "It isn't 'we throw out the Sept. 19 agreement and start over."'
| Bush 'pleased' by North Korea talks | Log-in or register a new user account | 0 Comments |
|
| Comments are statements made by the person that posted them.
They do not necessarily represent the opinions of the site editor. |
| |
|
|
News Categories
|
|
|
|
|
Main Menu
|
|
|
|
|
Login
|
|
|
|
|
Online
|
|
|
|
|
Ads
|
|
|
| |
