North Korea Warns U.S. over Nuclear Pressure

Oct. 22 ,2002

SEOUL,(Reuters) - A defiant North Korea, facing heavy pressure to scrap a secret nuclear weapons programme, warned the United States on Tuesday it would take unspecified "tougher counter-action" if Washington did not agree to talks on the issue.

"If the U.S. persists in its moves to pressurise and stifle the DPRK (North Korea) by force, the latter will have no option but to take a tougher counteraction," the ruling Workers Party daily Rodong Sinmun said.

"The only way out for the U.S. is to opt for reconciliation and peace, not strong-arm policy," said the article, carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

On Monday, North Korea's number two leader, Kim Yong-nam, told South Korea's visiting unification minister that the communist state was ready for dialogue.

The U.S. envoy in Seoul, speaking on Tuesday, held out little hope for negotiations, saying Pyongyang had lost all credibility. Ambassador Thomas Hubbard said, however, that Washington sought a peaceful solution to the crisis, and would rely on diplomatic pressure to persuade the North to scrap its nuclear project.

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