US rejects North Korean bid for missile talks

The United States on June 21 rejected a North Korean plea for direct talks about a potential long-range missile test. John Bolton, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said in response to remarks by a senior North Korean diplomat that threats were not the way to seek dialogue. "You don't normally engage in conversations by threatening to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles," he said. "And it's not a way to produce a conversation because if you acquiesce in aberrant behavior you simply encourage the repetition of it, which we're obviously not going to do." Earlier that day, Han Song Ryol, deputy chief of North Korea's mission to the United Nations, said that Pyongyang was seeking to resolve concerns about its preparation for a missile test by direct talks with Washington. "Some say our missile test launch is a violation of the moratorium, but this is not the case," Han told South Korea's Yonhap news agency from New York. "North Korea as a sovereign state has the right to develop, deploy, test fire and export a missile. The United States says it is concerned about our missile test launch. Our position is, 'OK then, let's talk about it.'" The offer was the first sign that the Stalinist regime, past masters at the art of brinkmanship, might back off from a missile test that would raise tensions on the Korean peninsula considerably and bring a firm response from the US and South Korea. Pyongyang has demanded a bilateral security pact with the US. Washington says it will only agree to such a deal after the North has agreed to abandon its nuclear ambitions. The missile crisis has led Kim Dae-jung, a former South Korean president, to cancel a trip to the North. North Korea has not test-fired a missile since 1998, when it sent one over northern Japan into the Pacific. But Pyongyang says that a self-imposed moratorium that has lasted since 1999 no longer holds because it is no longer in direct dialogue with Washington. Satellite images suggest that North Korea is ready to test-fire its new Taepodong-2 missile, which experts say could have a range of up to 9,000 miles–putting the western fringes of the United States within reach. North Korea is a self-declared nuclear power, although it is not thought to have any weapon sophisticated enough to work with the Taepodong missile. The United States and Japan have said that they would consider sanctions against North Korea if the missile test goes ahead. A spokesman for Seoul's Unification Ministry said that it would consider scrapping food aid to the impoverished North, which has relied on outside help to feed its 23 million people for the past decade. South Korea sent 385,000 tons of fertilizer and 550,000 tons of rice last year and North Korea has asked for a similar amount this year, but the Unification Ministry spokesman, Yang Chang-Seok, said: "If North Korea test-fires a missile, it will have an impact on rice and fertilizer aid." Pyongyang has consistently pressed for direct dialogue with the United States, while Washington insists it will only speak to the North at six-nation nuclear talks. The North has refused to return to those talks since November, however, angered by a US crackdown on illicit financial dealings by the regime. In Vienna, after talks with European leaders, President Bush was critical of North Korea, and held out no hints of face-to-face talks.