White House: North Korea Tells US About Nuclear Plans
VOA News
15 Jul 2003, 14:37 UTC
The Bush administration says North Korea has revealed that it plans to start producing nuclear weapons.
A White House spokesman Tuesday confirmed published reports that the North disclosed its plans last week during a meeting in New York with Jack Pritchard, a State Department official who handles North Korean affairs.
The spokesman said Pyongyang reported having processed enough plutonium to produce several nuclear bombs - and that it plans to move ahead quickly to start turning the material into weapons.
The White House spokesman said Washington is not able to confirm the accuracy of North Korea's disclosure. But he said the Bush administration will not submit to blackmail in its efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis.
North Korea has insisted on direct talks with Washington, but the Bush administration says it wants multilateral talks to resolve the crisis. In April, China hosted diplomats from North Korea and the United States for talks in Beijing. Those discussions produced no breakthrough.
Meanwhile, China is stepping up its efforts to cool tensions over the North Korean situation. President Hu Jintao sent a letter this week to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, apparently proposing multi-lateral talks that also would include bi-lateral discussions between Pyongyang and Washington.
Neither side has confirmed the proposal, but diplomats tell reporters it is not likely the United States will go along with it.
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