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U.S. envoy: N. Korea 'worrisome'
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea's recent "worrisome behavior" is adding urgency to the need for a solution to the standoff over its nuclear program, the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea has said. Speaking to the American Chamber of Commerce in Seoul Wednesday, Ambassador Thomas Hubbard said the North Korean leadership was embarked on a "dangerous path" by seeking to develop nuclear weapons. He said recent events indicating that the North was moving to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons and intensifying its confrontational stance pointed to the need for an urgent and "effective approach" to resolving tension. North Korea has denied having nuclear weapons or any program to develop them saying it is restarting reactors to produce much needed electrical power. However, U.S. officials say the plants are designed solely to produce material for nuclear weapons and generate only negligible amounts of electricity. They estimate production could begin before the middle of the year enabling the North to produce several nuclear warheads by the end of 2003. Steps taken by North Korea that the U.S. says have escalated tensions on the Korean Peninsula include: • North Korean fighter jets intercepting a U.S. RC-135 spy plane in international airspace off the Korean coast. • Restarting the mothballed five-megawatt nuclear reactor at Yongbyon -- thought to be capable of starting production of weapons grade plutonium within the year. • Test-firings of two surface-to-surface missiles in the past two weeks. • Withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in January and ejecting International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors last December. Use of forceFor its part the United States has countered with steps that include: • Newspaper interviews in which President Bush has suggested, for the first time, that the United States might need to use military force to prevent North Korea from building a nuclear arsenal, if diplomacy fails. The Baltimore Sun for example quoted Bush as telling reporters, "If they don't work diplomatically, they'll have to work militarily." • The decision to go ahead with annual joint military exercises with South Korea this month. • The push within the IAEA's 35-member board of directors to hand the North Korean case over to the United Nations • The refusal to engage in bilateral talks with Pyongyang. • The decision to deploy 12 B-1 bombers and 12 B-52 bombers to Guam as a "message" to Pyongyang that the U.S. military is not distracted by the Iraq situation. Pyongyang has long insisted that Washington has plans to attack the North, but in his speech Wednesday Hubbard challenged that assertion. "We have no intention of invading North Korea," he said. Despite the rising tensions, he said that Washington remained hopeful that "this is a problem that can be resolved peacefully through diplomacy." He added: "We also, however, believe that our defensive alliance, our combined deterrence (with South Korea) is an important factor in keeping the peace on this peninsula and the region. And we have no intention whatsoever of weakening that deterrence." Because of South Korea's involvement, and the interests of several other regional countries in a peaceful settlement to the issue, Hubbard said the United States was sticking to its calls for a multilateral solution. "Other nations have much to lose from North Korea's dangerous actions," he said, adding: "The challenge to regional and global peace and stability concerns us all, and must be met by a combination of concerned states. "That's why the United States has emphasized the need for a multilateral approach to resolving this issue," Hubbard said. North Korea, which blames what it calls Washington's hostile policy for sparking the crisis, is demanding bilateral talks with the United States and a non-aggression treaty.
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