By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The top U.S. diplomat urged North Korea Saturday to abandon all its nuclear weapons programs and materials, following the regime's long-awaited declaration of plutonium-producing activities and demolition of a cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear facility.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said North Korea should address both claims of its nuclear proliferation and suspected highly enriched uranium (HEU) program down the road.
``As to the other elements, proliferation and the HEU program, there are documents that are referred to in the declaration concerning those two issues. Thus far we don't have the answers we need about either,'' Rice said in a joint press conference after talks with her South Korean counterpart Yu Myung-hwan at the ministry in Seoul.
``I expect the North will to live up to the obligations that it's undertaken, to take those concerns seriously and to address them,'' she said. ``At the end of this we have to have the abandonment of all programs, weapons and materials.''
Rice arrived in Seoul Saturday for a two-day visit for talks with Yu on North Korea's disarmament process, following her visit to Japan. On Sunday, she left for Beijing, the host nation for six-party nuclear talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
The talks are expected to resume as early as this week.
Rice paid a courtesy call on President Lee Myung-bak later Saturday.
``President Lee told Secretary Rice that the six-party talks are the most effective framework yet to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue,'' presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan told reporters.
The President also expressed hope that President George W. Bush would visit South Korea at an early date, said the spokesman.
The U.S. government announced last week that Bush's trip to South Korea scheduled for July would be delayed amid fierce public protests here about Seoul's decision to resume the imports of U.S. beef.
Progressive civic groups and lawmakers have led the massive protests, calling for nullifying the beef agreement.
In Saturday's news conference, Rice stressed U.S. beef is safe and Washington would continue efforts to win consumer confidence here.
``In terms of differences that sometimes arise from trade disputes, they are normal in relations between states,'' she said, standing beside Foreign Minister Yu. ``I think we have already, in fact, looked at a new framework or a new set of agreements concerning the opening of the market to beef.''
Under an additional beef deal reached earlier this month, the U.S. administration agreed to adopt an age verification system for the beef exports, known as a quality system assessment, with Korean beef importers and U.S. exporters reaching a commercial understanding that only U.S. beef from cattle under 30 months of age will be shipped to Korea.
The agreement also calls for banning imports of all specified risk materials (SRM) such as brains, eyes, skulls and spinal cords.