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US calls on DPRK to return to denuclearization process

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-21 11:26

WASHINGTON: The United States downplays the nuclear threat posed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), but still wants to see Pyongyang back to denuclearization, the State Department said on Monday.

"Our long-term objectives has not changed, which is a denuclearized Korean Peninsula. And we want to see North Korea take meaningful steps, irreversible steps, toward denuclearization, " said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley.

"Currently, North Korea represents in infinitesimal threat to the United States directly. But clearly North Korea, and particularly its provocative actions, does represent a significant threat to the region," said Crowley.

"What we want to avoid, obviously, is something that would precipitate, among other things, an arms race in Asia," he added.

Dismissing international opposition, the DPRK conducted an underground nuclear test on May 25 and since then has fired at least seven ballistic missiles. It also boycotted the six-party talks on its nuclear program.

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The spokesman said that what the DPRK has done in the past months is unhelpful to the denuclearization process and regional stability, and that the United States would not "resell the same horse over and over again."

"The ball is in North Korea's court," Crowley added.

"We are obviously willing to do things if North Korea themselves does their part, which obviously is coming back to a negotiation process, reaffirming their obligations under the 2005 agreement, and taking irreversible steps toward denuclearization," he stressed.