The White House said on Thursday that it will "have to rethink" its strategy toward Pyongyang after the latest round of the six-party talks failed to break impasse over the verification of nuclear facilities in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
"Because they decided not to work with us, and the talks have devolved because they wouldn't put it in writing, we're going to have to rethink some of this action-for-action, which is what we had said we would do," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters at the daily press briefing.
"There was an open door and all they (the DPRK) had to do was walk through it because five of the members of the six-party talks had all agreed on a verification protocol," said Perino.
The spokeswoman did not specify what action the Bush administration would take, saying, "It's too early for me to say what the next steps are."
There has been media speculation that the Bush administration mulls putting Pyongyang back on the terrorism sponsors list.
"I suppose these things are always possible," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters on Wednesday, when asked to comment on such speculation.
"I don't know the ins and outs of the law, but I think that it' s based on behavior. And we'll see what behavior North Korea engages in," said the spokesman.
The six parties, namely the DPRK, the United States, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Russia and China, which are all involved in the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, ended their third meeting during the sixth round of talks with a chairman statement on Thursday evening in Beijing.
How to verify the DPRK nuclear facilities was the sticking point in the latest round of talks. After four days of intensive discussions, the six parties failed to reach an agreement on the issue.
The parties agreed to convene the next meeting as soon as possible.
Under an agreement reached at the six-party talks in February 2007, the DPRK agreed to abandon all nuclear weapons and programs, and also promised to declare all its nuclear programs and facilities by the end of 2007. In return, the DPRK would get diplomatic and economic incentives, including its removal from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.
After its nuclear envoy Christopher Hill paid a three-day visit to Pyongyang in early October and struck a verification deal with the DPRK to save the stalled six-party talks, the Bush administration dropped the country from the list on October 11.
But the two countries have since disputed over the verification issue. The US side claims that the inspectors, according to the deal reached with the DPRK, could take samples away from the nuclear facilities, while the DPRK insists that it never agreed to remove the samples.
"They have a unique way of doing business. And we're not going to play into their way of doing business. We know what was agreed. We have it on paper. We have a solid understanding of it," said McCormack.
"Other countries within the six-party talks share that understanding. And we'll see if North Korea will now take final step. And if they don't, then potentially you go down another pathway," he said, adding, "We're equally prepared to do both."
"The act of taking them off the state sponsor of terror list was based on fact, (and) was based on the law. The law is very explicit about what gets you on the list and what gets you off the list. There's no cutting corners. You either meet the requirements or you don't," McCormack said.
(Xinhua News Agency December 12, 2008)