Rice ups ante on N. Korea nukes

She raises the possibility of sanctions if talks don't resume soon.
BEIJING (AP) -- Raising the stakes in a standoff with nuclear North Korea, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested Monday that the Pyongyang government could face international sanctions.
North Korean intentions dominated the closing days of Rice's weeklong trip to South Asia and East Asia, a tour that involved more difficult face-to-face diplomacy and fewer glamorous front-page newspaper photos than her debut trip to Europe last month.
Six-way arms talks hosted by China have been on hold since North Korea pulled out last year and later declared that it had already built at least one nuclear weapon. None of the countries talking to North Korea has declared the diplomatic process dead, but Rice discussed that possibility during visits to Japan, South Korea and China this past week.
"To the degree that a nuclear-free Korean peninsula gets more difficult to achieve if the North does not [return to the talks] then of course we'll have to look at other options," Rice said at a news conference.
The five nations participating in the talks with North Korea are China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States. The structure was intended to make clear to North Korea that its neighbors would not tolerate nuclear weapons on the strategic peninsula.
North Korea test-fired a missile over Japan in 1998, demonstrating Pyongyang's ability to threaten both Japan and about 50,000 U.S. troops deployed there. Last year, North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting Alaska.
Tension over Taiwan
In China, Rice delivered an unwelcome message to the communist leadership about U.S. displeasure over heightened tension with Taiwan and made a personal statement about limitations on religious freedom by attending a Palm Sunday church service.
It was the first high-level U.S. visit to China since President Bush pledged to make the spread of democracy a major thrust of his second term.
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