US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that North Korea needs to "get serious" in talks on dismantling its nuclear weapons program.
"The North Koreans need to have a different attitude and a different approach when they come to the next round" of six-party talks, Rice told reporters.
Speaking outside the APEC forum, Rice expressed disappointment with Pyongyang's attitude in the last round of talks in Beijing that ended in stalemate on Friday.
"I think the jury is out on whether the North Koreans are prepared to do what they need to do, which is to get serious about dismantlement and verification obligations that they undertook," she said.
"Thus far, I think the round that just ended did not have the kind of engagement on that issue from the North Koreans that we might have expected."
Ddiplomatic effort
US President George W. Bush, speaking in Japan while en route to the APEC summit, called for a "comprehensive diplomatic effort from all the countries involved, backed by firm resolve" to press the North Koreans.
At a previous round of talks in September, the parties issued a joint statement of principles in which North Korea promised to scrap its nuclear programs in exchange for energy assistance and other benefits.
Rice made her comments after conferring separately in Busan with her counterparts from the US' partners in the six-nation talks: China, Russia, Japan and South Korea.
"Essentially, we are all on the same page," she said. "The next one [round of discussions] needs to have the North Koreans come seriously prepared to talk about dismantlement and verification."
Demands
Rice said the North Koreans remained fixed on their demands for a light-water reactor up front. She did not know when the negotiations would resume but said it could be before the end of the year.
"I don't think there is going to be a long hiatus. Nobody is anticipating the kind of hiatus that we had for a year or something like that," she said.
The six-party talks started in August 2003 but after three rounds North Korea broke off discussions for 13 months before they were restarted in July of this year.
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