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N. Korea responds to letter from Bush

The exchange is seen as an effort to improve relations.

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Friday that he got Kim Jong Il's attention by writing the North Korean leader a letter and that Kim can get his attention by fully disclosing his nuclear programs and proliferation activities.

The White House said Kim verbally responded through a diplomatic channel on Tuesday to a letter Bush sent to him earlier this month. The letter, the president's first to the leader of the communist regime, was viewed as a personal gesture from Bush, who once branded North Korea as part of an "axis of evil."

"I got his attention with a letter, and he can get my attention by fully disclosing his programs, including any plutonium he may have processed and converted some of that into whatever he's used it for. We just need to know," Bush said after a meeting with his Cabinet. "As well, he can get our attention by fully disclosing his proliferation activities."

A senior U.S. official with knowledge of the contents of North Korea's message said it contained what appeared to be a pledge from Pyongyang to follow through on its denuclearization deal as long as the United States holds to its end of the bargain.

North Korea began disabling its plutonium-producing reactor last month under the watch of U.S. experts. In exchange, the United States agreed to try to normalize ties with North Korea and remove the country from terrorism and trade sanctions blacklists.

[Last modified December 15, 2007, 01:56:14]