2nd LD) U.S. repeats calls on N. Korea to halt provocations, return to six-way talks

((ATTN: ADDS Clinton's remarks, other details at bottom)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, May 27 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday
warned of consequences from North Korea's recent nuclear test, but repeated calls
for North Korea to return to the six-party talks on its denuclearization.

"There are consequences to such actions," Clinton told reporters after a meeting
with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. "In the United Nations as we
speak, discussions are going on to add to the consequences that North Korea will
face coming out of the latest behavior, with the intent to try to rein in the
North Koreans and get them back into a framework where they are once again
fulfilling their obligations and moving toward denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula."
The 15-member U.N. Security Council is deliberating how to further sanction North
Korea, which would add to sanctions imposed on three North Korean firms for their
involvement in the trading of weapons of mass destruction following the North's
April 5 rocket launch.
North Korea detonated its second nuclear device Monday in defiance of Security
Council resolutions banning any nuclear and ballistic missile tests by the
reclusive, communist state.
Pyongyang threatened to boycott the six-party talks, restart its disabled nuclear
facilities and conduct further nuclear and missile tests unless the council
apologizes for the sanctions.
"We hope that there will be an opportunity for North Korea to come back into a
framework of discussion within the six-party process, and that we can begin once
again to see results from working with the North Koreans toward denuclearization
that will benefit, we believe, the people of North Korea, the region and the
world," Clinton said.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs echoed Clinton's theme.
"I think their actions would be better focused on living up to their rights and
obligations," Gibbs told a daily news briefing. "Threats won't get North Korea
the attention it craves. Their actions are continuing to further deepen their own
isolation from the international community and from the rights and obligations
that they themselves have agreed to live up to."
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly called for North Korea to refrain from
provocative actions.
"We call on North Korea to refrain from these kinds of provocative statements,"
he said. "And we call on them to uphold their commitments and abide by their
international obligations."
Kelly would neither confirm nor deny the reports that Pyongyang has restarted its
nuclear facilities, idled under a six-party deal that calls for the North's
denuclearization in return for hefty economic aid and political and diplomatic
benefits.
"I just am not going to comment on something that's just a report at this time,"
he said. "I'll just say again that they should refrain from any provocative
action -- and clearly, restarting a nuclear reactor would be a provocative action
-- and uphold the commitments that they've made."
Clinton reiterated the U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea when asked
about Washington's response to the North's threat to attack South Korea if any
North Korean vessels are searched or seized under the U.S.-led anti-proliferation
efforts.
North Korea also said earlier in the day that it will no longer abide by the
armistice that ended the three-year Korean War in 1953. The U.S. fought the war
alongside South Korea against North Korea and its communist ally, China.
"I want to underscore the commitment that the United States has, and intends
always to honor, for the defense of South Korea and Japan," she said. "That is
part of our alliance obligation, which we take very seriously."
South Korea announced Tuesday that it will join the Proliferation Security
Initiative in response to North Korea's nuclear test, although it had been
reluctant to join the international consortium of 95 countries searching and
seizing vessels and airplanes, mainly of North Korea and Iran, suspected of
carrying weapons of mass destruction.
Clinton will meet with President Barack Obama later in the day to discuss the
North's nuclear test and the drafting of a resolution against the test at the
United Nations, Kelly said.
"She does have a meeting with the president today," he said. "I wouldn't go into
the details of the agenda, but I'm sure that North Korea will come up."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)