Second Nuke Test Could Prompt Harsher Sanctions UN Sanctions N.Korea Over Nuclear Test Pyongyang to Sever Ties if S.Korea Joins Sanctions UN Committee on N.Korea Sanctions Kicks Off Hong Kong Seizes Empty N.Korean Vessel U.S. to Take Separate Sanctions Against N.Korea PSI ‘Will Hit N.Korea Where It Hurts’ S.Korea Won't Stop and Search N.Korean Ships U.S. Envoy Defends 'Misunderstood' PSI PCs, Steel Among Goods Banned From Export to N.Korea Seoul to Join Proliferation Pact in All But Substance Seoul Opts Out of N.Korea Sanctions Seoul Sees no Need to Join UN Sanctions on N.Korea Seoul Declines to Join PSI for Fear of ‘Armed Clashes’ Ducking and Diving on the Global Stage U.S. 'Respects' Seoul's Refusal to Join PSI

Rice’s remarks imply a call for Seoul to take a more active part in the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and review inter-Korean economic projects that channel money to the North, notably the Kaesong Industrial Complex and package tours to Mt. Kumgang. But she stressed, "I did not come to South Korea, nor do I go anyplace else, to try to dictate to governments what they ought to do.”

Rice tried to calm fears here that participation in the PSI will aggravate tensions. "As to the PSI, again there is a lot of misunderstanding about what it is. It has been in being for a couple of years now,” Rice said. “The idea that somehow we'd want [UN Security Council Resolution] 1718 to be implemented in a way that escalates tension on the Korean peninsula or on the high seas, that could not be more wrong.” She added the PSI does not amount to a maritime blockade.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, left, meets South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon in Seoul on Thursday. Rice arrived in South Korea earlier in the day to press Seoul to support sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear test that rattled the world./AP

Ban and Rice agreed that the international community should implement the UNSC resolution sincerely, that North Korea must realize the grave consequences a second nuclear test would have, and that Pyongyang should return to six-party talks on its nuclear program immediately and unconditionally. Ban said the two confirmed the need for peaceful, diplomatic efforts to resolve the situation. "What we need is not sanctions for the sake of sanctions but a balanced and strategic coordinated approach that will help sanctions dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear program,” he said.

President Roh explained the government's position on the issue of the two inter-Korean projects and told Rice, "We will carry out the projects in a way to observe what the resolution intends to do," according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Yoon Tae-young. He said Rice responded by saying it is up to South Korea to make decisions on the issue.

(englishnews@chosun.com )