SANTIAGO - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday use of a UN Security Council measure against North Korea's nuclear program was still an option, and called Pyongyang back to multilateral talks.
"The Security Council remains an option for the international community, concerning the North Korean nuclear program," said Rice, speaking in Chile during a four-nation tour of Latin America.
However, multilateral talks, which North Korea has failed so far to return to, are the best way of dealing with North Korea over its move toward acquiring nuclear material.
"North Koreans are doing all kinds of things, we have different assessments of what they may or may not be doing but let me make a couple of things very clear.
"The North Koreans, if they engage in certain kind of behavior, are only going to deepen their isolation.
"The way to come out of that isolation is to get back to the six party talks and to make the strategic decision to get rid of their nuclear weapons program."
"We maintain a strong deterrant on the Korean Peninsula both through our alliance with South Korea and through American military power in the region. And I'm quite certain that the North Koreans are not confused about the military situation in the Korean peninsula," Rice said.
04/29/2005 00:53 GMT