'N Korea bigger threat than Iraq'

2003-04-26 10:54

Phoenix - North Korea's nuclear weapons pose a bigger threat to the United States than Iraq did before the US invasion, a key US senator said.

"We're in a very serious situation. You could argue, in some ways, more serious than it was with Iraq," US Senator John McCain told the Associated Press in an interview on Friday.

McCain sits on the Senate Armed Service Committee and is known as a maverick. He unsuccessfully challenged George W Bush in the 2000 presidential primary elections.

McCain's remarks came as nuclear talks with North Korea ended unresolved in Beijing.

U.S. administration officials said this week they were told by North Korean official that North Korea country had nuclear weapons and would test, export or use them, depending on US actions.

Although the United States cannot rule out invasion, McCain said war should be the last option.

McCain also criticised what he said was the low number of active duty personnel serving in the US military. He said the United States is unable to fight two wars on two separate front around the world - a policy of US military planners dating back to the Cold War.

McCain said the Bush administration hasn't paid as much attention to problems in the North as it should. But he said the administration was "dealt a very bad hand," calling the situation as the "latest failure of the Clinton administration."

Relations between the United States and North Korea deteriorated in October, when North Korea admitted developing nuclear weapons in violation of a 1994 agreement. The United States cancelled fuel oil shipments to the energy-depleted country in response.

McCain, 66, a Navy pilot who was taken prisoner during the Vietnam War, announced in February he would seek a fourth Senate term, saying the terrorist attacks and economic hardships persuaded him to return to Washington. - Sapa-AP

- SAPA