North Korea, Iran 'still dangerous': Bush

NUKEWARS

NKorea offers envoy for Obama inauguration: reports
North Korea offered to send its chief nuclear negotiator to next week's inauguration of US President-elect Barack Obama, but Washington has responded coolly, South Korean news reports said Monday. The JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, quoting a Seoul government source, said the communist state may be trying to assess whether its traditional enemy's policy will change under Obama, who takes office on January 20. The hardline North, which has been locked in nuclear disarmament talks for years, refrained from its customary criticism of the United States in a policy-setting New Year message. "The North, through its United Nations mission office in New York, conveyed the message that it can send Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-Gwan as a representative to the inauguration ceremony," the source told JoongAng. The message was delivered to the Obama transition team via a non-profit US organisation, The Korea Society, the source said. "I've heard negative opinions far outpaced the positive views," the source added, referring to the response from the Obama team. "Pyongyang may be trying to test the political waters in the Obama administration by watching Washington's response." Yonhap news agency, citing a diplomatic source, said the North's proposal had been turned down because of US scepticism. Both JoongAng and Yonhap said the new administration would be unlikely to invite a Pyongyang envoy until it has mapped out its policy on North Korea. South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan said he could not confirm the reports. But he noted that only resident ambassadors, and not special foreign envoys, are normally invited to US inaugurations. The United States has since 2003 been involved in six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament. The latest round -- involving the United States, the two Koreas, China, Russia and Japan -- ended fruitlessly in Beijing last month. No agreement was reached on ways to verify the secretive nation's declaration of its atomic programmes.

by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Jan 12, 2009
US President George W. Bush said on Monday that North Korea and Iran are "still dangerous," saying Pyongyang may be enriching uranium for nuclear weapons.

Describing the threats the next president will face, Bush said he was concerned the North Korean regime had a clandestine program for highly enriched uranium.

"So they're still dangerous," Bush said.

And he added: "Iran is still dangerous."

It was the first time the US president had referred to North Korea's suspected uranium enrichment work since international talks with Pyongyang broke down last month. Previous public statements by Bush had focused on North Korea's plutonium program.

The disarmament talks with North Korea involving the United States, South Korea, China, Russia and Japan collapsed in Beijing in December after failing to reach agreement on how to determine if the secretive nation is telling the truth about its nuclear programs.

"North Korea is still a problem. There is a debate in the intelligence community about how big a problem they are. One of my concerns is that there might be a highly enriched uranium program," said Bush, who steps down on January 20.

"Therefore, it is very important that out of the six-party talks comes a strong verification regime" to confirm North Korea is abiding by its commitments.

Bush did not comment further on Iran but his administration has previously demanded Tehran suspend its uranium enrichment work and accused Iran of secretly pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

Iran denies it is seeking an atomic bomb and says its nuclear program aims to provide energy for its growing population when reserves of fossil fuels run out.

NKorean arms exports rose to 100 million dlrs last year: report
Exports of North Korean missiles and other weapons rose in value to about 100 million dollars last year mainly due to tensions in the Middle East, a South Korean newspaper reported Monday.

The hardline communist country saw a sharp drop in weapons exports in 2007 because of international sanctions imposed after it tested missiles and an atom bomb in 2006.

Last year the value of its overseas arms sales rose to about 100 million dollars or more than 10 percent of total exports, the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper said.

It quoted an unidentified Seoul government official as saying progress in six-party nuclear disarmament talks last year helped North Korea sell more weapons.

The paper said purchasers felt less political burden in buying such weapons because the talks had made some headway.

The Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America were said to be export destinations.

"Middle East countries are known to have purchased a large amount of weapons from North Korea due to a military confrontation with Israel," the official was quoted as saying.

North Korea has allegedly supplied missiles to Syria, and Washington said Iranian officials were present at the North's missile test-launches in 2006.

The South's unification ministry and defence ministry said they could not confirm the newspaper report.

The United States has accused North Korea of being a leading global proliferator of weapons. But the cash-strapped country has refused to stop missile exports, a major source of hard currency earnings.

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NUKEWARS

China and US should use pressure, not diplomacy, with North Korea

Hong Kong (AFP) Jan 8, 2009
China could end North Korea's nuclear drive by threatening to cut off its energy supply, a former US ambassador said Thursday.

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