 SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea should realize that a logjam in crucial talks on its nuclear weapons programs cannot go on forever, and should stop making unreasonable allegations, South Korea's foreign minister said on Wednesday.
The harsh remarks by Ban Ki-moon reflected growing frustrations over communist North Korea's refusal to return to the disarmament negotiations. Talks involving the two Koreas, the US, Russia, China and Japan, aimed at persuading the North to give up its nuclear ambitions, have been stalled since last June.
| All the concessions and cash haven't worked, eh? |
"Concerns both at home and abroad are growing because of undesirable measures by North Korea," said Ban, adding that efforts to peacefully resolve the dispute are at a "crucial phase."
"North Korea should realize the current situation in which the six-party talks are not taking place cannot go on aimlessly, and should stop hanging onto unreasonable allegations," Ban said in a regular briefing.
| There's going to be some spittle on that one. |
North Korea further raised tensions by apparently test-firing a short-range missile toward Japan on Sunday, a day after the country called the US President George W. Bush a "hooligan" and rejected any solution to the nuclear dispute as long as he was in the office.
| Sure, no probs, how's the grass soup? |
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