Powell demands full abandonment of DPRK nuke programs

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that the United States will attend the upcoming six-party talks on DPRK's nuclear ambitions with ''flexibility'' but reiterated the need for Pyongyang to fully disclose and dismantle its nuclear programs.

"We've made clear to the North Koreans (DPRK) what it will take to solve the problem, and the benefits that ultimately await for North Korea when the problem is resolved," Powell told reporters after meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei.

"But the resolution of the problem demands that North Korea fully divulge, and fully turn over, and fully dismantle in a way that the whole world can see and there's no question about it, and also to make sure we remove their nuclear program," Powell said.

He was responding to media reports that South Korea and China prefer a more flexible approach and are ready to offer economic benefits to DPRK in a bid to encourage it to dismantle its nuclear programs.

"The other members of the six-party talks have indicated a willingness to provide some assistance rather quickly," Powell said. "The United States will want to see performance on the part of the North Koreans."

"We will enter these talks as we have entered previous talks, with flexibility and with an attitude of trying to solve this problem," he said.

China, Japan, DPRK,.South Korea, Russia and the United States will begin their third round of talks on the North's nuclear programs Wednesday in Beijing. The six countries began a two-day preparatory working-group meeting Monday in the Chinese capital ahead of the plenary session.

The previous six-party talks made little progress due to differences between Washington and Pyongyang over how to resolve the nuclear standoff.

The United States has been seeking the "complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement" of all DPRK nuclear programs while DPRK has been calling for economic and other assistance in exchange for a freeze on its nuclear arms programs.

At a regular press briefing, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher reiterated that the United States "is not prepared to compensate North Korea somehow for not doing something that they never should have done to begin with."

"There are somewhat different approaches at different stages by different parties in these talks, even though we do share a common goal," Boucher said. "We look to these talks to sit down and talk about how to get there."

Source: Agencies