World Can Deal with North Korea's "Brinkmanship," Rice Says
05 July 2006
Secretary of state says a number of tools are available to address missile launch
Washington -- The international community has remained united in its opposition to North Korea's missile tests and has "a number of tools" to deal with Pyongyang's "brinkmanship," says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
In remarks to the press July 5 after her meeting with Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul, Rice said North Korea's decision to go ahead with missile tests demonstrate that it may have "miscalculated that the international community would remain united. But in fact there has been a very strong response to their actions."
On July 4, North Korea fired six missiles, including Scud-type and Nodong short- to medium-range missiles capable of reaching Japan and a Taepodong-2 long-range missile capable of reaching the United States. A number of the launches were considered failures by expert observers; all the missiles landed in the Sea of Japan.
The North Korean government issued a declaration in 1999 promising that it would maintain a moratorium on testing after neighboring countries objected to its launch of a long-range Taepodong-1 missile in 1998. It reaffirmed its moratorium in 2004, but reversed its stand in 2005.
Rice said the international community will be discussing what steps will be taken to reverse North Korean behavior -- both its missile tests and its pursuit of a nuclear weapons program.
While not providing specifics, Rice said, "The international community does have at its disposal a number of tools to make it more difficult for North Korea to engage in this kind of brinksmanship."
In New York, the U.N. Security Council is discussing the issue, with representatives of 15 nations meeting in emergency session. In Brussels, Belgium, the North Atlantic Council, the governing body of NATO, expressed "grave concern" over the missile launch, and issued a statement expressing regret and condemnation on July 5.
"[W]e've had expressions from countries all over the world of concern about this provocation that the North Koreans have engaged in," Rice said. (See related article.)
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill, who has been the lead U.S. negotiator at the Six-Party Talks, is leaving for the region by July 6.
Rice said the Six-Party Talks (which encompass North and South Korea, Russia, China, Japan and the United States) provide the "diplomatic infrastructure that can be used to resolve problems of this kind," but she added that it would "still be incumbent on the North Koreans to use that kind of infrastructure to address these issues."
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, during a July 5 press briefing, predicted that international pressure on North Korea "will continue to build in the coming days.
"I think we're entering a period of intensive diplomacy," he said, adding that Rice has been on the phone with her counterparts from China, Russia, South Korea and Japan.
McCormack said Bush administration officials will be talking "to friends and allies around the world who are outraged by this action, which contravenes North Korea's own promises not to launch such missiles," adding that "we're going to be talking in the international community about how to address this and what specific actions the international community might take."
The State Department spokesman added that the United States is encouraging other countries to use whatever leverage they might have with North Korea to persuade it to "reverse course."
"We would encourage China, as well as any other country that might have diplomatic leverage with North Korea, to use that leverage, to apply it and to encourage a change of behavior in the North Korean regime," McCormack said.
The spokesman added: "[W]e are certainly relieved that there was no loss of life in this. But there could have been. I think it underscores the seriousness of this activity, as if we need something else to underscore how serious it is. But it certainly could have been more tragic."
President Bush, in response to reporters' questions during an appearance with Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili, July 5, expressed concern for the people of North Korea.
Bush said the missile launches have served to further North Korea's isolation from the international community. "And that's sad for the people of North Korea," he said.
"I am deeply concerned about the plight of the people of North Korea. I would hope that the government would agree to verifiably abandon its weapons programs," Bush said, adding that such a move would allow North Korea "to move forward."
For more information on U.S. policies, see The U.S. and the Korean Peninsula.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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