U.S. to continue sanctioning N. Korea to press denuclearization: State Dept.

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (Yonhap) -- The United States Wednesday reiterated that it
will continue sanctioning North Korea unless it abandons its nuclear weapons
programs.
"North Korea, if they are unwilling to directly engage with the United States,
others within the six-party process -- if they are unwilling to give up their
nuclear program, as they have once themselves committed to do -- then they will
continue to face isolation and continue to face significant sanctions," said
Philip Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs.
Crowley was responding to North Korea's announcement earlier in the day that it
will not be bound by U.N. Resolution 1887, adopted last week to call for full
implementation of sanctions on North Korea and Iran imposed by previous
resolutions for their production and proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The spokesman reconfirmed Washington's pledge to pursue North Korea's
denuclearization through the six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S.,
China, Japan and Russia.
"North Korea has been a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty in the past," he
said. "Our policy remains clear, that we believe that the Korean Peninsula should
be completely denuclearized. That is the foundation behind our policy and our
interaction with other regional powers within the six-party process."
North Korea has said it will boycott the six-party talks for good due to the U.N.
sanctions for its nuclear and missile tests, but recently invited Stephen
Bosworth, special representative for North Korea policy, to Pyongyang for a
breakthrough.
U.S. officials said they will soon make a decision on whether to send Bosworth to
Pyongyang to persuade the North to come back to the six-party talks, although
they pledged not to try to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue through
bilateral talks.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is visiting Pyongyang next week on the occasion of the
60th anniversary of normalization of Chinese-North Korean ties amid reports that
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il may make an important announcement on the
six-party talks while receiving Wen.
Bosworth said Tuesday that the Barack Obama administration does not have a
military option on the table regarding North Korea's denuclearization.
"There is no military solution," he said. "Containment does not give long-term
results. Negotiations are the way forward."
In the daily news briefing, Crowley also said that Kurt Campbell, assistant
secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, conveyed U.S. concerns
over North Korea's military connection with Myanmar when he met with officials
Tuesday in New York from the South Asian country.
"We talked about our concerns about Burma's relationship with North Korea, our
proliferation concerns associated with that," Crowley said. "I think it was a
cautious beginning and an initial meeting, and it will obviously require, you
know, time and patience as we continue these -- these discussions."
U.S. and South Korean officials have said Myanmar played a role in the return of
a North Korean vessel suspected of carrying arms banned under U.N. resolutions
after being closely chased by a U.S. Navy boat in August.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)