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The U.S. on Monday (local time) for the first time directly threatened to drag North Korea before the U.N. Security Council if it keeps refusing to come back to six-party nuclear disarmament talks.
"If North Korea refuses to come back to the six-party talks, then I fully expect we would consult with our partners in the region about the next steps,¡± White House spokesman Scott McClellan said during a regular briefing. Asked whether that could mean referring the matter to the Security Council, he said, "That's certainly one possibility." U.S. officials like Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have so far only hinted at the possibility that the Stalinist Country¡¯s nuclear program could once again become a matter for the council, where it was referred by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in February 2003.
But McClellan stressed the by-now standard position that the six-party framework is the best way of dealing with Pyongyang¡¯s atomic ambitions. He urged the reclusive country back to the negotiating table, warning its ¡°failure to follow through on that commitment and its provocative words and actions¡± could only isolate it further.
In an interview with CNN on Monday, White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove also warned North Korea would ¡°hear the opinion of the greater world¡± if it didn't listen to what its neighbors were telling it. He said that if North Korea remained stubborn to the end, there were other means the world could adopt to get the regime to change direction. He said close discussion with other participants in the talks - besides the U.S. they are South Korea, Japan, China and Russia ? on the question were underway.
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Comparison of two satellite pictures indicates that North Korea has shut down its 3 MW nuclear reactor in Yongbyon. The picture on the right, taken on January 7, shows steam rising from the cooling tower, but there is no steam in the other picture, taken on April 7. The photos were made public by the U.S. Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) on Monday.
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Meanwhile, North Korea¡¯s U.N. deputy ambassador confirmed his country has shut down its Yongbyon reactor and plans to reprocess the spent fuel rods to make nuclear warheads, USA Today reported in its online edition Tuesday. "The ball is in the U.S. court,¡± Han told the daily. ¡°We asked the United States to change its hostile policy. Then we can believe the United States and enter the disarmament process."
U.S. State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher on Tuesday said the matter could be discussed once Pyongyang comes back to the talks. ¡°You know, running reactors or not running reactors, reprocessing or not reprocessing, is not going to get North Korea a solution to its troubles,¡± he said. ¡°It's not going to get them, as [Rice] has said, the respect they desire, the assistance that they need."
He added, "I can't get into the details¡± of the reactor shutdown, ¡°but I do say we follow develops at Yongbyon very closely."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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