NUCLEAR PROGRAM Powell rejects N. Korea's terms for talks

Powell is hoping to list support from South Korea, Japan and China.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
TOKYO -- Secretary of State Colin Powell rejected North Korea's conditions Saturday for resuming six-party talks over its nuclear program, saying they would lead only to new conditions that would keep the negotiations stalled.
Powell told reporters that the Pyongyang government should bring its concerns to the six-nation bargaining table rather than try to negotiate directly with the United States over conditions such as providing compensation to North Korea or ending a reported U.S. "hostile attitude."
North Korea said some of that suspected hostility is evident in multinational naval exercises designed to stop ships carrying dangerous nuclear material. A Washington-led naval drill will take place Tuesday in Tokyo Bay under the Proliferation and Security Initiative.
It would be the first such drill in northeast Asia, and John Bolton, undersecretary of state for nonproliferation affairs and a sharp critic of North Korea, will be watching the exercises abroad a Japanese Coast Guard patrol board.
Powell decided to visit Asia to give the talks a boost and hopes to enlist the support of China, Japan and South Korea in applying more pressure on the North.
No better deal
Beginning a five-day Asian trip, Powell told reporters traveling with him that North Korea would not get a better deal if it waits until after the U.S. election to decide whether to join the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia in the talks.
"They may be waiting for our election to be over, I don't know. I won't second-guess them but I don't think they will see a change in the [six-party] format that was going to be used to solve this problem," he said.
Sen. John Kerry has called for direct negotiations between the United States and North Korea over its nuclear program. By some estimates, North Korea has six to eight nuclear weapons. Powell has said he believes Pyongyang has one or two.
The secretary said he was satisfied that China, South Korea, Japan and Russia are "fully committed" to the talks, which are aimed at creating a non-nuclear Korean Peninsula. "I think they are steady and steadfast," he said.
Powell is scheduled to travel to China and South Korea after his visit to Japan.
As for North Korea, he said, "they are very good at trying to get everything they want up front, in return for promises." To give in would lead only to more conditions, he said.
The secretary was responding to a statement issued by North Korea before his departure from Washington, setting out three conditions for returning to negotiations.
Harassment claim
In complaining of the "hostile attitude," North Korea claimed harassment by joint naval exercises aimed at stopping ships suspected of carrying nuclear materials.
Powell said there was nothing hostile about the Proliferation and Security Initiative in which industrialized nations stage joint naval exercises to help stop the spread of nuclear weapons. Pyongyang has complained that Japanese ships have blocked shipping lanes and harassed their ships.
But Powell said the anti-proliferation initiative "does not threaten North Korea. It does not threaten the sovereignty of North Korea or the welfare of North Korea. It protects the rest of the world."
In its list of conditions, North Korea also called for economic assistance -- or reward, as Pyongyang calls it -- having the United States help pay for such things as heavy fuel deliveries if an agreement is signed.