NK Should Not Proliferate for Success of 6-Party Talks

WASHINGTON _ U.S. President George W. Bush said Thursday that North Korea should not proliferate nuclear weapons if it wants the six-party denuclearization talks to succeed.

Refusing to comment on alleged nuclear cooperation between North Korea and Syria, Bush said he expects Pyongyang to honor its commitments to give up its atomic weapons and weapons programs.

"And to the extent that they are proliferating, we expect them to stop their proliferation, if they want the six-party talks to be successful," he said at a press conference.

Israel conducted air incursions into Syria earlier this month for reasons yet to be explained. Ensuing press reports, mostly quoting Israeli intelligence, said the attacked facility is believed to be a nuclear installation, possibly being equipped with material brought from Pyongyang.

The fresh allegations come at an awkward time when six nations _ South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan _ are preparing critical talks on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

Bush adamantly refused to go into the Israeli air raid itself. "I am not going to comment on the matter," he repeated three times.

On the reported North Korea-Syria connection, he said the U.S. will continue to insist North Korea live up to its denuclearization commitments.

"The concept of proliferation is equally important as getting rid of programs and weapons," he said.

But he did not link his comments directly to the reported North Korea-Syria connection.

"It's a general statement that we expect them not to be proliferating," he said.

(Yonhap)