North Korea threatens to scuttle all nuclear talks with the U.S.

PYONGYANG, 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - North Korea threatened Monday, May 5, to scuttle all nuclear talks unless the United States responds positively to Pyongyang's offer to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for economic and diplomatic payoffs.

North Korea also accused Washington of making efforts to resolve the nuclear crisis "more complicated" by again including the Stalinist state on a list of countries suspected of sponsoring terrorism, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

"If the U.S. does not positively respond to the DPRK's (North Korea's) bold proposal, it will be held accountable for scuttling all efforts for dialogue and seriously straining the situation," the ruling Workers Party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said.

It denounced Washington for ignoring the North's proposal, presented at talks in Beijing last month meant to defuse the six-month-old nuclear crisis.

At the talks, North Korea offered to ditch its nuclear and missile programs in return for economic and diplomatic benefits.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday, May 4, that North Korea 's leaders are "masters of ambiguity."

"They are always ambiguous in their statements, masters of ambiguity," Powell said.

On Monday, a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman blasted Washington 's report last week that kept Pyongyang on a list of "state supporters of terrorism" along with Iran , Cuba , Iraq , Libya , Sudan and Syria .

"The U.S. smear campaign against the DPRK will only make the settlement of the nuclear issue between the DPRK and the U.S. more complicated and aggravate the situation," the spokesman said.   

Policy Shift

Meanwhile, the United States is shifting the focus of its North Korea policy from preventing the production of nuclear material to blocking the export of such material, The New York Times reported Monday.

President George W. Bush discussed the new approach this weekend with John Howard during the Australian Prime Minister's visit to the U.S. leader's ranch at Crawford , Texas , the report said, citing officials familiar with the talks.

"The president said the central worry is not what they've got, but where it goes," an unnamed administration official was quoted as saying.

"He's very pragmatic about it, and the reality is that we probably won't know the extent of what they are producing. So the whole focus is to keep the plutonium from going further."

Pyongyang told the United States last month that it has nuclear weapons and threatened to prove it with a "display."

But Washington has been unable to confirm Pyongyang 's assertion that it has reprocessed spent nuclear fuel.

"We can't confirm that with our intelligence, but that's what they say. What they have gotten in response to these statements is nothing from us except condemnation," Powell said Sunday.