US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Monday that the
United States was prepared to return to the six-party talks
"without precondition."
"We've said many times that we are prepared to return to the
talks without precondition and that holds," Rice told reporters
before she kicks off Asian trip to Japan, South Korea and China
today.
Rice urged North Korea to return to the six-party talks,
involving the United States, North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan
and Russia, that began in August 2003.
"We must remind North Korea that a positive path remains open to
it through the six-party talks," Rice said, noting "Now, we want
very much to have talks that are actually going to lead some
place.
Rice also reiterated US call for North Korea to give up nuclear
arms, saying "if it makes the strategic choice to dismantle its
nuclear weapons completely, verifiably and irreversibly, an
entirely new and better future would be open to it and to its
people."
North Korea claimed it conducted a successful nuclear test on
Oct.9. It also "totally rejects" a resolution unanimously adopted
Saturday by the UN Security Council on its nuclear test.
The six-party talks have been stalled since September last year
when North Korea boycotted US financial restrictions aimed at
Pyongyang.
In last September, Pyongyang agreed in principle to give up its
nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid and security and
diplomatic guarantees.
Also on Monday, US National Intelligence Director John
Negroponte's office said air samples gathered last week contain
radioactive materials that confirm North Korea conducted an
underground nuclear explosion.
In a short statement posted on its website, Negroponte's office
also confirmed that the size of the explosion was less than 1
kiloton, a comparatively small nuclear explosion. Each kiloton is
equal to the force produced by 1,000 tons of TNT.
The statement from Negroponte's office provides the first
official confirmation from the United States that a nuclear
detonation took place, as Pyongyang has claimed.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily October 17,
2006)
