China Pressures North Korea

03/24/2005

BEIJING, March 23 (AP) - President Hu Jintao stepped up pressure on North Korea on Wednesday to return to nuclear talks, telling North Korea’s prime minister that dialogue was the only way to settle the dispute.

Mr. Hu offered Beijing’s help in arranging new talks as he met with Prime Minister Pak Pong Ju, the official New China News Agency reported.

Mr. Hu told Mr. Pak that “dialogue is the only correct choice for peacefully resolving the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula,” the agency said. It added that Mr. Hu promised to see that North Korea’s “rational concerns” were resolved - a reference to the North’s demands for security guarantees if it gives up trying to make nuclear weapons.

Mr. Hu’s comments were unusually blunt and forceful for the Chinese leader, whose public statements are rarely so direct. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested Monday that North Korea might face sanctions if it did not cooperate.