Asia-Pacific

Rice says U.S. not to attack DPRK

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-11 08:39

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday that the United States will not invade or attack the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

President George W. Bush has said that the United States has no intention to invade or attack the DPRK and "I don't know what more they want," Rice told the CNN.

Rice also rejected direct talks with the DPRK and demanded the DPRK to abandon nuclear weapons.

"What Kim Jong Il should understand is that if he verifiably gives up his nuclear weapons program, there is a better path for his people, who are oppressed and downtrodden, and hungry for that matter," Rice said.

The DPRK claimed Sunday night that it had successfully set off its first nuclear test. The Bush administration has since sought immediate action from the UN Security Council.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday that the sanctions to be imposed on the DPRK will focus primarily on not allowing the DPRK government "in any way to further develop its WMD or missile technology programs or in any way to benefit from those programs in the sense that it would export know- how, technology or material."