The United States warned North Korea that it would face action from the international community if it does not stop exporting dangerous weapons and other illegal activities. "If North Korea will not act, it will find the United States, its allies and other partners equally prepared to respond with measures that ensure North Korea cannot threaten our countries or international stability," said Mitchell Reiss, the department's director of policy planning.
| That's going to pucker a few sphincters in NKor-land. |
Speaking at the Heritage Foundation, one of Washington's leading repositories of expertise on East Asia, Reiss said the United States was taking steps to enforce its laws against alleged narcotics trafficking and counterfeiting of US currency by the rogue state. He said these steps were ongoing and unrelated to the current six-party negotiations -- which include North and South Korea), Japan, the United States, China and Russia -- to ease the nuclear standoff in North Korea. "We are entitled to expect legal behaviour from all countries." "With or without a denuclearization agreement, North Korea must cease its exports of dangerous weapons and the wide scope of its illegal activities," Reiss said.
| That's pretty blunt; somebody's sending a signal. |
Washington would also pursue with its so called proliferation security initiative, a programme to counter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and missiles, he said. "We will insist on full accountability by the North Korean regime and its agents for their behaviour," Reiss said. "The choice, ultimately, is theirs."
| "Whereas the use of Los Angeles class boats is ours." |
North Korea called the US demand "criminal" and said progress was impossible because of "the fundamental difference between the DPRK and the US in their stands."
| I really hate it when I'm forced to agree with KCNA about progress. |
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