Bush Says Patience With North Korea 'Not Unlimited'

U.S. President George W. Bush (file photo) (epa) April 27, 2007 -- U.S. President George W. Bush says the United States and its allies will allow North Korea flexibility in meeting its commitments on nuclear disarmament, but their patience "is not unlimited."

Bush made his remarks to reporters today after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the U.S. presidential retreat outside Washington.


"We're hoping that [North Korean leader Kim Jong-il] continues to make the right choice for his country," Bush said. "But if he should choose not to, we've got a strategy to make sure that the pressure we have initially applied is even greater."


North Korea recently missed a deadline to shut down some of its nuclear work under a February agreement.


(AP, CNN, Reuters)

The Proliferation Threat

The Proliferation Threat

The Arak heavy-water plant in central Iran (Fars)

BENDING THE RULES. Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, told an RFE/RL-Radio Free Asia briefing on January 9 that the West is hamstrung in dealing with Iran and North Korea because of the way it has interpreted the international nonproliferation regime to benefit friendly countries like India and Japan.


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