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N. Korea: U.S. needs to act
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea says future talks with Washington would be pointless if the U.S. ignores Pyongyang's offer to dismantle its nuclear program in return for concessions. North Korea made the proposal during talks with U.S. officials last week in Beijing and offered to abandon its nuclear weapons and missile exports, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters. Without providing any details on the North's proposal, Powell said the United States and its allies were studying the offer, but said it did little to settle the matter. (Powell not swayed) North Korea "acknowledged a number of things they are doing and in effect said these are now up for further discussion," Powell said. During the tense six-month U.S.-North Korea standoff over Pyongyang's suspected nuclear program, Washington has maintained that it would not be bullied or blackmailed into dealing with the North. North Korea has said it wants a non-aggression pact with the United States, but Washington has said Pyongyang must take concrete steps to end its nuclear weapons program before it would consider talks. This stance has angered North Korea, which is being seen by analysts as using its nuclear program as leverage to get aid, economic assistance and better U.S. relations. "If the U.S. stance is left as it is, future talks would be a waste of time and it is as clear as fire that such talks would offer no help in resolving the nuclear problem," said the Minju Joson, a newspaper published by the North Korean cabinet. "The U.S. offered no measure to resolve the nuclear problem, reiterating its previous demand for a scrapping of North Korea's nuclear plans as a prerequisite," the newspaper said on Tuesday, according to a Korean-language report from the North's KCNA news agency. 'Little pieces'South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan confirmed on Tuesday North Korea had offered to resolve the nuclear crisis on condition Washington guarantees the survival of Pyongyang's communist system, according to Reuters news agency. "North Korea offered a solution to nuclear concerns by the United States on condition that Washington guarantees the Pyongyang regime," a ministry spokesman quoted Yoon as saying. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said details of the North Korean proposals that have emerged so far are "little pieces being picked out of a larger context." "They said they had nuclear weapons," he told reporters Monday. Boucher said the North Korean delegation had hinted they were prepared to talk about what they might do with them. "They said they might get rid of them. They said they were reprocessing [nuclear fuel rods]. They said they might get rid of all their nuclear programs. They said they might, you know, stop their missile exports," he said. Reprocessing nuclear fuel rods can yield plutonium suitable for use in nuclear weapons. A Bush administration official said last week that Li Gun, North Korea's representative to the Beijing talks, pulled aside Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and told him "blatantly and boldly" that the country has at least one nuclear weapon. Li said his country would "prove" it has the weapon "soon," implying that North Korea might test a nuclear bomb. However, Powell said Monday that the North Korean delegation had "never used the word 'test'." North Korea and South Korea are due to conclude three days of cabinet level talks in Pyongyang Tuesday.
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