Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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North Korea vows to avoid talks promoting nuclear disarmament By BURT HERMAN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea boasted publicly for the first time Thursday that it has nuclear weapons and said it will stay away from disarmament talks, dramatically raising the stakes in the 2-year-old dispute. The Bush administration called on Pyongyang to give up its atomic aspirations so life can be better for its impoverished people. North Korea’s harshly worded pronouncement posed a grave challenge to President Bush, who started his second term with a vow to end North Korea’s nuclear program through six nation disarmament talks. “We ... have manufactured nukes for self-defense to cope with the Bush administration’s ever-more undisguised policy to isolate and stifle the (North),” the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency. The agency’s report used the word “nukes” in 1US .LvIlgllMl-ldllgUdgC uu^aivu. Previously, U.S. negotiators said North Korean officials claimed in private talks that they had nuclear weapons and might test one. The North’s U.N. envoy also said last year the country had “weaponized” plutonium from its pool of 8,000 nuclear spent.fuel rods. But Thursday’s statement was the first claim directly from North Korea’s state media that it has a nuclear weapon, confirming the widely held beliefs of international experts that the country has one or two atomic bombs. North Korea is not known to have performed any nuclear tests, and it kicked out U.N. inspectors in 2002, so there is no way to verily its claims. The United States and "South Korea, the North’s main rivals, played down the revelation and urged the North to return f to the six-nation talks that began in 2003 and also include China, Japan and Russia. Analysts suggested the move by North Korea may be a negotiating tactic aimed at getting more compensation in exchange for giving up its nuclear weapons program. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said North Korea should return to ___ . . II I I I 1^—_i AHN YOUNG-JOON/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A South Korean newspaper reporting North Korea’s nuclear weapons is seen on a subway train in Seoul. North Korea for the first time publicly boasted Thursday it has nuclear weapons and said it will stay away from disarmament talks, pushing the two-year-old nuclear crisis to a new low. negotiations. “The world has given them a way out and we hope they will take that way out,” she said, wrapping up a trip to Europe. “The North Koreans have been told by the president of the United States that the United States has no intention of attacking or invading North Korea. “The message is clear: give up these aspirations for nuclear weapons and you know life can be different,” Rice said, adding that it was the same message Libya understood in renouncing its nuclear ambitions. In a clear overture to North Korea to help foster the nuclear talks, Bush refrained from direct criticism of the country in last week’s State of the Union address. He mentioned the North only in a single sentence, saying Washington was “working closely with governments in Asia to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions.” Bush previously branded the North part of an “axis of evil” along with Iran and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Still, Pyongyang on Thursday seized on comments by Rice last month in which she labeled North Korea as one of the “outposts of tyranny” in the world. “The U.S. disclosed its attempt to topple the political system in (North Korea) at any cost, threatening it with a nuclear stick,” North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said. “This compels us to take a measure to bolster its nuclear weapons arsenal in order to protect the ideology, system, freedom and democracy chosen by the people in (North Korea).” The statement said the Bush administration was trying to “mislead” the world in calling for resuming the six party talks while also seeking “regime change” in North Korea. “This is nothing but a far-fetched logic of gangsters as it is a good example fully revealing the wicked nature and brazen-faced double-dealing tactics of the U.S. as a master, hand at plot breeding and deception,” the statement said. South Korea urged its neighbor to rejoin the talks, and said it maintains its previously stated estimate that North Korea has enough plutonium to build one or two nuclear bombs. “We once again urge North Korea to rejoin the six-party talks without conditions so that it can discuss whatever differences it has with the United States and other participants,” said South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Lee Kyu-hyung. Both Rice and White House spokesman Scott McClellan played down any significance of North Korea’s announcement that it has nuclear weapons, saying it was “rhetoric” that has been heard before. “We remain committed to a peaceful diplomatic resolution to the nuclear issue with regards to North Korea,” McClellan said aboard Air Force One en route to North Carolina. “It’s time to talk about how to move forward.” Washington now must rely on its allies with more direct influence over the North — China and South Korea — to entice North Korea to negotiate. ■ VIRUS Continued from page 1 stabbed you in the stomach.” During his four-hour visit to the health center, Edwards said the clinic staff was helpful and courteous, but he said he hardly noticed the scores of patients delaying his treatment. “I really didn’t think about that much,” he said. “I was just trying not to throw up on the floor.” Allison Rast, a third-year accounting student, was also sick from a stomach virus that awakened her in the early morning hours Thursday. She had heard that many students were coming down with the illness, but she said she doubted she had caught the virus at USC. “I would not think that mine was related, because I am not on campus but two days a week,” Rast said. Hill said he has seen cases like Rast’s and Edwards’ all week and that the pattern of illness is typical of a virus. “These things have life of their own,” Hill said. “It usually comes in waves and we just keep our fingers crossed and stay on top of it.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocbiews@gzvm. sc. edu ■ COBLE • Continued from page 1 He called the previous lack of communication between city and student leaders “ridiculous.” “To my knowledge, we’ve never had a meeting between all of the communities involved in our safety,” he said. SG Sen. Tommy Preston introduced Coble and thanked him for his speech. “Our new commitment to improving our relationship with our community is evident, and I believe that we have definitely delivered for our students,” he said. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc. edu I TH#%AMECOCK Online five days a week. Bonus. www. daily gamecock, com Depart 4/24-6/09/05 & stay up to 1 year! 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