US admits it cannot stop North Korea's nuclear programme

UPDATED: May 06, 2003 - 1:38 pm

America is refocusing its North Korea policies to concentrate on blocking the export of nuclear weapons materials by Pyongyang – a tacit admission that Washington can realistically do little to prevent their manufacture.

The shift in position, which emerged after talks between President George Bush and John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, in Texas at the weekend, came as the US and the secretive Communist state jockeyed over a deal to shut down the North's clandestine weapons programmes.

Talks last month in Beijing ended inconclusively after Pyongyang demanded massive economic aid and a written security guarantee from Washington in return for scrapping its nuclear activities. Yesterday the North demanded a response to the "bold proposal" it outlined to James Kelly, the chief State Department negotiator to Korea. US officials said Pyongyang told Mr Kelly that it possessed nuclear weapons and threatened to use or export them if Washington did not make concessions.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=403574

US denies shift in North Korea policy

US denies shift in North Korea policy

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States said it had not shifted its North Korea policy, discounting a report it was now more concerned with stopping Pyongyang exporting nuclear material than on halting its weapons programs.

The New York Times reported that President George W. Bush discussed such an approach with Australian Prime Minister John Howard at weekend talks at his Crawford, Texas ranch.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/030506/afp/030506014231top.html

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