U.S. Warns North Korea Against New Nuclear Testing

(RFE/RL)

January 5, 2007 -- The United States says a new North Korean nuclear test would have "severe consequences" for the six-party process designed to persuade North Korea to abandon its atomic ambitions.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said such a test would question the viability of the political and diplomatic process aimed at solving the nuclear dispute.

McCormack said the signals are that the talks could reconvene this month. They involve China, Japan, North and South Korea, Russia, and the United States.

The six-party negotiations were suspended in late 2005 after North Korea walked out in protest at U.S. financial sanctions imposed on a bank accused of illicit dealings on behalf of Pyongyang.

(Reuters, AFP)