US not to act quick on N Korea

2005-06-05 22:12

Fort Lauderdale - The United States is unlikely to make a decision on whether to take the North Korean nuclear issue before the UN Security Council in the next couple of weeks, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday.

Asked if the US government would seek to bring the matter before the Security Council in coming weeks, Rice replied: "I think that the idea that within weeks, we're going to decide one way or another, is a little forward leaning."

The comment by Rice, en route to a summit of the Organisation of American States here, appeared to contradict a senior US defence official who said on Sunday that Washington would likely decide in weeks whether or not to take the North Korea nuclear issue before the UN council.

Taking up the issue with UN Security Council "is something we're giving increased study to. And probably we'll come to a decision in the next few weeks," said the defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The defence official spoke in Singapore while accompanying US defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who held talks with Asian defence ministers on a trip to the region.

"The United States is constantly reviewing what it's going to do," Rice told reporters in brief remarks on the subject, adding, however, that "the Security Council is always an option."

The senior official travelling with Rumsfeld had also said there was growing consensus within the administration of US President George W Bush that the status quo over Pyongyang's self-proclaimed nuclear weapons could not continue.

North Korea has boycotted the six-nation talks on its nuclear program since last June, and on February 10 declared it has nuclear weapons. Now US officials fear it could conduct a nuclear test with little or no warning, taking the international standoff to a new level.

- AFP