 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Russia tells N. Korea not to defy treaty©Associated PressDecember 31, 2002 SEOUL, South Korea -- Russia, North Korea's longtime ally, warned the communist regime Monday not to withdraw from an international agreement to halt the spread of nuclear weapons, a blow to the North's efforts to cast the nuclear issue as a dispute strictly with the United States. South Korea expressed alarm at signs its neighbor was preparing to exit the treaty, which seeks to confine nuclear weapons to the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China. Still, the South insisted dialogue was the only way to resolve the problem peacefully. The Bush administration said Monday that North Korea is dangerously isolating itself from the world community, including China, by its declared determination to revive its nuclear weapons program. "The international community has made clear that North Korea's relations with the outside world hinge on its termination of its nuclear programs," deputy White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters covering President's Bush's holiday respite in Texas. The diplomatic flurry followed Pyongyang's hints in a statement Sunday that it might abandon the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, a move that would deepen the crisis over the isolated country's decision to restart its nuclear facilities and expel U.N. nuclear inspectors. In Moscow, Mikhail Lysenko, the director of the Foreign Ministry's security and disarmament department, warned Pyongyang against withdrawing from the treaty. He said that Russia supports the agreement and insists on a "constructive dialogue" among all involved, and that Moscow was consulting with both Koreas, the United States, Japan and China. These were the strongest cautionary statements Moscow has made yet to Pyongyang on the issue. Russia has tried to maintain a balance between demanding North Korea meet its responsibilities and urging the Bush administration to tone down its rhetoric. Russia has economic interests in the North, including a new railroad crossing the inter-Korean border that Moscow hopes can join the Trans-Siberian, connecting Russia with Western Europe. Withdrawing from the pact means the impoverished North is intent on raising pressure on the United States to negotiate over energy sources -- and is prepared to turn its back on its international obligations to do so. The nonproliferation treaty was adopted in 1968 and ratified by 187 countries. North Korea signed it in 1985 but tried to withdraw in 1993 over suspicions it was producing weapons. A crisis was averted by the 1994 energy deal with the United States.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
