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Rice was responding to a question how the U.S. was handling the North Korean missile threat in a press conference following a meeting with French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier. "The United States maintains significant, and I want to underline significant, deterrent capability of all kinds in the Asia-Pacific region," she said. "So I don't think there should be doubt about our ability to deter whatever the North Koreans are up to." According to Reuters, Rice's comment were meant to stress that although the U.S. no longer has nuclear weapons in South Korea, it has long-range missiles, bombers and aircraft carriers capable of striking North Korea.

But Rice added the North Korean missile threat was nonetheless "a serious problem." She added stalled six-party talks had so far focused on North Korea's nuclear program, but at some point the missile issue would need to be discussed as well. Pyongyang reportedly test-fired a new missile into the East Sea on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Japanese Foreign Minister Machimura Nobutaka, who met Rice on Monday, said if North Korea refuses to return to the six-party talks, one available option is referring the matter to the UN Security Council. White House spokesman Scott McClellan stressed Washington was consulting with its partners about what to do if the Stalinist country refuses to come back to the negotiating table. "But I think all of us are sending the same message to North Korea: You need to come back to the talks; it's the only viable path for you to pursue a solution," he said.

(englishnews@chosun.com )