Military Options Still on the Table Over NK Nukes: Bush

U.S. President George W. Bush Wednesday didn't rule out the possibility of using force to resolve nuclear disputes with North Korea and Iran.

"I have always said that diplomacy has got to be the first choice of solving any of these problems. But military options remain on the table," Bush said in a roundtable interview with Japanese news outlets, according to AFP.

Bush's remarks came in response to a question asking if the six-country-talks approach he embraced for dealing with North Korea could be effective with Iran and about charges he ignored diplomacy when it came to Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

Bush said North Korea's decision to provide an unprecedented accounting of its nuclear programs last week may have stemmed from leader Kim Jong-il's decision to end his country's deep political and economic isolation, according to AFP.

"Expectations are that he will move forward, action for action," as part of a tit-for-tat diplomatic arrangement promising the secretive Stalinist country rewards for doing so, Bush told the roundtable.

"We expect there to be full declaration of manufactured plutonium. We expect there to be a full disclosure of any enrichment activities and proliferation activities. And we expect the abductee issue to be solved.

"And if they choose not to move forward on an agreed-upon way forward _ action for action _ there will be further isolation and further deprivation for the people of North Korea," he said.

But "I would only surmise that perhaps the leader of North Korea is tired of being isolated in the world, and would try to advance his country in a way that makes it easier for the people to have a better life," Bush was quoted as saying.

Bush also sought to ease Japanese anger at his decision to take North Korea off the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, effective in 45 days, in response to North Korea's nuclear accounting.

Bush will head for Japan next week for the annual G-8 summit of leaders of advanced economies.

Diplomatic sources say Bush's most recent remarks should be seen as a matter of principle, citing the breakthrough made recently in the North's denuclearization under the six-party talks, Yonhap News reported.