China, Japan and the United States called North Korea back to stalled
six-nation talks, with Washington saying Pyongyang had "no choice" in the wake
of a UN condemnation.
A day after the UN Security Council unanimously denounced the country over a
recent missile barrage, Chinese President Hu Jintao said he and US President
George W. Bush agreed they wanted to resume negotiations.
"Both sides agreed to continue their efforts to move forward the six-party
talks, so that at the end of the day, the entire Korean Peninsula could be
de-nuclearized in a peaceful way through dialogue and in negotiations," Hu said
through an interpreter after they met here.
Bush noted passage of the UN resolution, telling his Chinese counterpart: "I
want to thank you for your leadership on that."
While North Korea flatly rejected the resolution, which imposed targeted
sanctions, Washington and Beijing say that Pyongyang must return to talks that
also group Seoul, Moscow, and Tokyo.
"It's a remarkable resolution, and with an affirmative Chinese vote," US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters at the Group of Eight summit
here. "We really, now, have a coalition."
"That's why, I think ultimately, North Korea will have no choice but to
return to the talks and pursue de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula," she
said. "That's really the only game in town."
Rice said she was "not surprised" by North Korea's reaction but stressed that
Pyongyang must come back to the talks "if they don't want to be even more
isolated than they are, if they do not want to face some of the additional
pressures that can be brought to bear on them."
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said the resolution had sent a
"strong message" to North Korea and that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had
agreed to support his efforts to get the G8 to support the measure.
"It is important for North Korea to follow the resolution, return to the
six-party talks and become a responsible member of the international community,"
Koizumi told his G8 partners.
A Japanese government official said the G8 would also send a "clear message"
condemning the missile tests.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov predicted that the G8 leaders "will be
able to support this resolution and (in) this way add to their voice, their
authority to the call on North Korea."
The compromise UN resolution, which capped 11 days of tough bargaining by
major powers, demanded the immediate suspension of Pyongyang's ballistic missile
program and imposed sanctions preventing it from buying and selling missile
technology.
Senior Bush counselor Dan Bartlett said the resolution still set the stage
for tougher steps if Pyongyang continued to snub talks on its nuclear and
missile programs.
The measure provides that "enhanced diplomatic repercussions are the path to
respond to the further intransigence and refusal of the North Korean government
to come back to the table and negotiate their disputes in a peaceful manner,"
said Bartlett.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement: "We hope
all relevant parties could take this as a turning point, make common efforts and
create conditions for the early resumption of the six-party
talks."
