The US is likely to decide before the end of the month whether to take the North Korean nuclear issue before the UN Security Council, a senior US defense official said yesterday.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld raised the North Korean dilemma only "lightly" in his talks here with Asian defense ministers, and insisted to reporters that US policy remains to pursue a resumption of stalled six-party talks.
"The president's policy is exactly what has been announced: encourage the six-party talks, the diplomatic path, and to the extent he or the others have announcements to make, they'll make them," he said.
Nevertheless, a senior official traveling with Rumsfeld said there was growing consensus within the US administration that the status quo could not continue.
Taking up the issue with UN Security Council "is something we're giving increased study to. And probably we'll come to a decision in the next few weeks," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
North Korea has boycotted the six-nation talks on its nuclear program since last June, and on February 10 declared it has nuclear weapons. Now US officials fear it could conduct a nuclear test with little or no warning, taking the standoff to a new level.
The official said he was not aware that the US had approached any of the other powers taking part in the talks about going to the UN Security Council.
But he said "there is a consensus of frustration."
"There's a lot of things going on. We have a one-year anniversary but moreover we have ... a spiral of threats by North Korea, and it appears to be marching to its own frustration drum," he said.
The official acknowledged, however, that there was no consensus among the other parties to the talks -- South Korea, China, Japan and Russia -- on the next step.
Japanese Minister of State for Defense Yoshinori Ohno said here Saturday that there should be a consensus before talking the North Korean issue to the UN Security Council.
But the US defense official said, "there is very broad consensus that if the North Koreans haven't made a conscious decision to come back to the table ... in the June timeframe, we need to sit down collectively and decide where we all go from here and develop a common roadmap. I think that is the sense in the air."
President George W. Bush meets June 10 with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, whose government is hosting a ministerial-level meeting with the North Koreans June 21-24 in Seoul.
"I would expect him to share with us by the time he comes what it is that they plan to offer, or what they plan to talk about when they meet at the ministerial level," the official said.
Those meetings would fall on the one-year mark since the last time the six-party talks were held.
In a speech to a conference on Asian security here Saturday, Rumsfeld stressed that China could play a key role in persuading North Korea to return to the talks.
Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said he will encourage China to be more "proactive" with North Korea when he meets with Chinese leaders next week in Beijing.
"They have considerable influence, and we would like them to use all of their influence to encourage North Korea to return to the table," he said after meeting Rumsfeld.
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