CHINA/NORTH KOREA: U.S. Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice calls Pyongyang's nuclear test a "provocation"/North Korea's leader says no further nuclear tests, according to news report

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks in Beijing on Friday (October 20, 2006) to rally support for United Nations (U.N.) sanctions against North Korea, passed after it tested a nuclear device on October 9. The talks took place as North Korean leader Kim Jong-il told a visiting Chinese envoy that Pyongyang planned to conduct no further nuclear tests, South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted a diplomatic source in China as saying. Japan's Foreign Ministry said it could not confirm or deny the report. But it reinforced the optimism of the envoy over the prospects of bringing Pyongyang back into line since the nuclear test, which brought world-wide condemnation and economic and weapons sanctions. China, a traditional ally of North Korea, is seen as having the greatest potential leverage over its reclusive neighbour. President Hu Jintao sent a team of diplomats led by State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan to Pyongyang earlier this week as speculation mounted that communist North Korea might be about to detonate a second nuclear device. Rice, who is making a crisis trip to east Asia, said Tang had sent a "strong message" to the North Koreans, and made clear to them that Beijing would fully implement the U.N. sanctions. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said Tang and the North Koreans also discussed how to kick-start stalled talks on Pyongyang's nuclear programmes. "At least it increased mutual understanding. Everyone discussed how to restart progress in the six-party talks as quickly as possible," Li told reporters. The talks, which bring together the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China, stalled last November after Washington imposed restrictions on Pyongyang's external financing. China's Xinhua news agency quoted Tang as saying the United States should take a more flexible attitude when dealing with North Korea, but Rice said the financial restrictions would remain. At a joint briefing after talks with Rice, Li appealed for calm and a diplomatic solution to the crisis. Rice told the briefing that North Korea's nuclear test was "a serious provocation" that posed a threat to peace and security, particularly in east Asia. "We also talked about the importance in leaving open a path of the six party talks because after all President Hu and President Bush are both committed to a diplomatic solution to this problem. The DPRK should return to those talks without condition," she said referring to North Korea by its official acronym. Rice said China made clear that it would be "scrupulous" about inspections on the land border with North Korea, despite fears in Beijing about any action that could cause its neighbour to collapse, bringing instability to its borders. But Premier Wen Jiabao also reiterated Beijing's view that negotiations were preferable to strong-arm tactics. More than 100,000 people rallied in the main square of Pyongyang on Friday to hail North Korea's nuclear test, official media reported, as world powers scrambled to put an end to the North's atomic ambitions. Prior to the mass rally, North Korea had only mentioned the test a few times in its official media, leading to some speculation that the nuclear explosion might not have been as successful as North Korea's leaders would have liked.

ITN Source | October 20, 2006

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