Bush warns North Korea but says US won't attack

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Bush warns North Korea but says US won't attack

Thursday October 12th 2006

Bush warns North Korea but says US won't attack - Irish Independent

PRESIDENT George Bush warned yesterday that North Korea must face "serious repercussions" for Monday's claimed nuclear test.

However, the president declared that the United States had no intention of attacking the impoverished communist country.

As North Korea threatened to carry out further nuclear blasts, Mr Bush brushed aside a renewed call by Kofi Annan, the outgoing UN Secretary General, for bilateral talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

That strategy, adopted by the Clinton administration, had failed, the President said, arguing that the currently stalled six-nation process represented the best chance of achieving a diplomatic solution.

Mr Bush's remarks came as tensions in east Asia continued to escalate. As Japan announced sweeping bilateral sanctions, North Korea's deputy leader, Kim Yong-nam, warned that further pressure from the US might lead to further tests.

"The issue of future nuclear tests is linked to US policy towards our country," he said. "If the United States continues to take a hostile attitude, we will have no choice but to take physical steps to deal with that."

If Mr Bush has his way, that pressure will be primarily exerted through the UN, where the Security Council is trying to agree on a set of sanctions, including an arms embargo and naval inspections of North Korean vessels. This opens the theoretical possibility of military action.

But the other two veto-wielding powers of China and Russia, while supporting some form of sanctions, favour milder action.

Most crucial is the attitude of China, whose food and energy shipments keep Kim Jong-il in power, but which wants to avoid provoking a collapse of the regime and chaos along its north-eastern border.

However, Toyko yesterday announced a total ban on imports from North Korea, closing its ports to North Korean ships and its borders to almost all North Korean citizens. Japan, warned new prime minister Shinzo Abe, was "in gravest danger" and the steps were essential to safeguard Japanese lives and property.