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Bush: NK tests an opportunity

Kim's missile tests 'unacceptable behavior'

Bush is using diplomatic means to put pressure on North Korea after the missile tests.

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NORTH KOREAN MISSILES

Taepodong-2: Range of 2,300 miles to more than 9,300 miles means the missile could potentially reach all mainland U.S. cities as well as European capitals.
Nodong: Range of about 620 miles puts Tokyo and most of Japan as potential targets.
Scud: Range of about 180 miles means the missile could threaten Seoul, South Korea.

Source: GlobalSecurity.org

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(CNN) -- U.S. President George W. Bush says this week's missile tests by North Korea offer an opportunity to rally global pressure on leader Kim Jong Il.

Bush's comments, made in an interview broadcast Thursday night ET on CNN's "Larry King Live," coincided with the start of talks in Beijing between top U.S. and Chinese negotiators on North Korea.

Bush said he thought the reclusive North Korean leader "wants us to either fear him or pay attention to him."

"And I view it as an opportunity ... to get the Chinese and the South Koreans and the Japanese and Russians to work with us and send a clear message that this is unacceptable behavior," Bush said.(Full story).

The U.S. president spoke with the leaders of China, Russia and South Korea on Thursday as part of a flurry of U.S. diplomatic activity.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei conferred on the North Korean issue in Beijing Friday morning.

North Korea has defended its missile tests and promised more to come, but U.S. officials told CNN there were no signs that Pyongyang was preparing to launch another long-range Taepodong missile.

North Korea launched seven missiles -- including one long-range missile -- over a 14-hour period Wednesday, sparking an international outcry as the secretive communist nation broke its own moratorium on the launches.

But the long-range missile, the Taepodong-2, which some fear is capable of hitting the western United States, failed almost immediately after launch, said a senior U.S. official with direct knowledge of the intelligence on the testing.

It spun out of control seconds after it was launched and the North Koreans never had operational control of the missile, the official said. It failed so quickly that the United States was never able to ascertain in what direction it was headed.

But Japan's Sankei newspaper, citing U.S. and Japanese sources, reported Friday that the missile was aimed at an area of the ocean close to Hawaii.

Pyongyang warning

North Korea has said it has a "legitimate right as a sovereign state" to test missiles, according to reports on the state-run news agency KCNA.

Pyongyang also warned countries against interference.

North Korea "will have no option but to take stronger physical actions of other forms, should any other country dare take issue with the exercises and put pressure upon it," the spokesman said in Pyongyang's first official comment since test-firing the missiles.

Diplomats and technical experts have met at the United Nations to work on a Security Council resolution that could impose sanctions on Pyongyang.

Security Council members decided 13 to 2 in favor of preparing a resolution and making "a very strong statement of condemnation," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Thursday.

"The sentiment in favor of a resolution is overwhelming," he said after meeting with the council. However, no official vote was taken.

"There might be disagreements but no one says it was a good thing [North Korea] launched the missiles. Nobody has signaled veto yet, and the countries who don't like the text are welcome to abstain," Bolton said.

China and Russia -- both permanent members of the council with veto power -- have said they oppose the sanctions mentioned in the draft resolution.

Chinese President Hu Jintao said in a phone conversation with Bush that he is opposed to any action "that would threaten peace and stability" on the Korean peninsula, White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters.

China, a neighbor of North Korea, is also Pyongyang's main provider of food, oil and economic aid.

Hu told Bush that China is sending its chief diplomat to North Korea, Snow said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged that the North Korean missile issue would become part of the G8 Summit discussions next week in St. Petersburg, Russia, Snow said.

The Bush administration's focus is to deal with Pyongyang's missile tests diplomatically, through the framework of the six-party talks.

The other parties, besides the United States and North Korea, are China, Russia, Japan and South Korea.

The six-party talks have stalled in recent months as North Korea has insisted on direct talks with Washington.

CNN's Jamie McIntyre contributed to this report.