It will 'not accept' a nuclear N. Korea; calls for global community to stay 'tough-minded'
By
William Choong, Senior Writer
Mr Gates said that the global community had to be very 'tough-minded', given North Korea's well-worn tactic of using its nuclear capability to bargain for more aid and assistance.
The United States yesterday delivered the harshest warning to North Korea since its nuclear test last week, saying that Washington stood ready to defend its allies in the region if North Korea crossed the line.
'We will not stand idly by as North Korea builds the capability to wreak destruction on any target in Asia - or on us,' US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said yesterday.
Speaking to a group of defence ministers, military officers and academics at the Shangri-La Dialogue yesterday, Mr Gates said the US would not accept a nuclear-armed North Korea.
'Our goal is the complete and verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, and we will not accept North Korea as a nuclear state,' Mr Gates said.
'North Korea's nuclear programme and actions constitute a threat to regional peace and security. We unequivocally reaffirm our commitment to the defence of our allies in the region,' he added.
The challenge posed to the US and other countries in Asia is tough. Last Monday, North Korea conducted its second nuclear test since 2006. The following day, it test-launched six short-range missiles.
It has also announced it would not honour the 1953 armistice signed at the end of the Korean War.
Yesterday, Mr Gates said that the global community had to be very 'tough-minded', given North Korea's well-worn tactic of using its nuclear capability to bargain for more aid and assistance.
'They create a crisis, and then the rest of us pay a price to return to the status quo ante.
'As the expression goes in the US, I'm tired of buying the same horse twice. This notion that we buy ourselves back to the status quo ante is an approach we ought to think very hard about,' said Mr Gates.
