AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
Washington: The United States on Tuesday warned North Korea against thinking it could use worries over a possible long-range missile to force the United States into direct talks. “If it's a bluff for direct negotiations, it's not an advisable way to do it,” White House spokesman Tony Snow told a press briefing.
Reports that North Korea is about to fire a missile from a sight on the remote northeast coast of the reclusive Stalinist state have caused international concern.
President George W. Bush on Monday urged the North Korean government to disclose its plans.
“The North Koreans should notify the world of their intentions, what they have on top of that vehicle and, you know, what are their intentions,” said Bush.
“We have not heard from the North Koreans, so I can't tell you what their intentions are,” he told reporters. “That's part of the problem.”
US and Asian officials have said North Korea has prepared a Taepodong-2 missile for launch, amid a parallel standoff over the communist state's nuclear program.
North Korea has boycotted talks since November with five other nations, including the United States, over its nuclear weapons programme.
It has regularly demanded direct talks with the United States. The two sides have never formally ended hostilities since the 1950-53 Korean War, which has bedevilled relations ever since.
A prominent lawmaker in Bush's Republican party meanwhile said the White House had ruled out a preemptive strike to knock out North Korea's Taepodong missiles.
“I think that the administration has pretty well put (that) to rest, and I concur with the administration,” Senator John Warner said after a closed-door briefing with top Pentagon officials.
“A preemptive strike at this point in time would not be a wise course of action,” he said.
Warner, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, nevertheless said “prudent steps are being taken by our government to protect us in the … probably remote possibility that this is a hostile launch.”
