Second nuke test by N. Korea would lead to `consequences`: Bosworth

(ATTN: UPDATES with more comments, other details; CHANGES headline)
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, May 8 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. point man on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, on
Friday called on the communist state not to press ahead with a second nuclear
test, stressing "the door to dialogue is alway open."
"If the North Koreans decide to carry out a second nuclear test, we will deal
with the consequences of that, and there will be consequences," Bosworth told
reporters after talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan on ways to
resume the six-way talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program. The negotiations also
involve China, Russia, and Japan.
"For the United States and I believe all of the five parties, the door to
dialogue is always open," he said. "It is in (North Korea's) interest to continue
dialogue and negotiation on a multilateral basis."
He stressed that the U.S. government's policy on North Korea is not hostile.
"We would not interpret our policy as being hostile," he said. "President
(Barack) Obama has stressed on numerous occasions that the door to dialogue
remains open and that we remain committed to resolving the problems we face
through negotiations and dialogue."
A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman, just hours before Bosworth's arrival
here, charged that the Obama administration retains U.S. hostile policy toward
the North and said it will bolster its nuclear deterrent.
North Korea announced last month that it will conduct another nuclear test,
following its first in 2006, unless the U.N. Security Council offers an apology
for its condemnation of the North's rocket launch on April 5.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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