United States: The US today rejected North Korea's plea for direct talks about a potential missile test, as US president George Bush said the communist nation faces further isolation if it goes ahead with a launch.
The US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, said threats weren't the way to seek dialogue. "You don't normally engage in conversations by threatening to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles," he said. "And it's not a way to produce a conversation because if you acquiesce in aberrant behaviour, you simply encourage the repetition of it, which we're obviously not going to do."
North Korea said in comments published yesterday that its self-imposed moratorium on testing long-range missiles from 1999 no longer applies because it is not in direct dialogue with Washington, suggesting it would hold off on any launch if Washington agreed to new talks.
"Some say our missile test-launch is a violation of the moratorium, but this is not the case," said Han Song Ryol, deputy chief of North Korea's mission to the UN.
"North Korea as a sovereign state has the right to develop, deploy, test-fire and export a missile," he said.
"We are aware of the US concerns about our missile test-launch. So our position is that we should resolve the issue through negotiations."
The crisis also led former South Korean president to cancel a trip next week to the North that could have offered a rare chance for talks. South Korea, which has sought reconciliation with the North, based on Mr Kim's policy of engagement, also said a missile test could affect Seoul's humanitarian aid to Pyongyang.
Washington was weighing responses to a potential test that could include attempting to shoot the missile down, US officials have said. "It should make people nervous when non-transparent regimes, who have announced they have nuclear warheads, fire missiles," Mr Bush said after meeting European leaders in Austria.
"This is not the way you conduct business in the world."
- (AP)