|
U.S. National Intelligence Director John Negroponte on Thursday said North Korea¡¯s claim that it has nuclear weapons is ¡°probably true¡± and warned Iran will have nuclear arms within a decade unless it is restrained now.
Negroponte added the North had ¡°threatened to proliferate these weapons abroad" and was thus posing a serious challenge to non-proliferation efforts. Negroponte painted a gloomy picture of the prospects for stalled six-party talks on Pyongyang¡¯s atomic program. "We do not know the conditions under which North Korea might be willing to fully relinquish its nuclear weapons and its weapons program,¡± the official told a Senate hearing. The North in the last round of talks last year agreed in principle to scrap the program.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday counterfeiting, illegal drug trafficking and the sale of missile technology were major North Korean industries, while the regime had shown itself willing to proliferate whatever military capability it can develop. He added this was a ¡°sad and shameful¡± way to live.
Also on Thursday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack dismissed a claim from South Korea¡¯s National Intelligence Service that there is no evidence that the North has forged U.S. dollars since 1998. McCormack insisted Washington¡¯s financial sanctions on the North were based on ¡°solid evidence.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
