Bush should reject North Korea nuclear deal: ex-UN envoy
Posted: 13 February 2007 0824 hrs

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WASHINGTON : US President George W. Bush should reject an agreement reached at six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program, Washington's former UN envoy, John Bolton, said Monday.

"This is a very bad deal," Bolton told CNN television, saying it contradicts Bush's policy and would show US weakness at a time when it is challenging Iran over its controversial nuclear programme.

"I'm hoping that the president has not been fully briefed on it and he still has time to reject it," he said.

He said the agreement, which needs the approval of the six governments involved in the talks, "undercuts" UN sanctions resolutions against North Korea, "and I think the Iranians have only to follow the same example."

"If the would-be proliferators can simply through persistence get the United States to compromise on its basic principles, they're going to succeed in proliferation. That's why this deal is such a bad precedent," Bolton said.

China circulated Tuesday a "final" joint statement outlining the first steps North Korea would take to end its nuclear drive and the economic rewards it would receive in return, said envoys meeting in Beijing.

Officials have yet to specify the details of the new joint statement, but they made it clear that North Korea would be given rich incentives in terms of oil and other energy aid if it took first steps towards disarming.

The chief US negotiator, Christopher Hill, described the text as "excellent".

He said it outlined initial actions the parties involved in the talks - the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas - could take to kickstart the process of Pyongyang dismantling its nuclear weapons program.

North Korea carried out its first atomic bomb test in October, triggering United Nations sanctions on the impoverished nation and breathing new urgency into the six-party forum. - AFP/ch