N. Korea yet to change behavior despite pressure: U.S. official

N. Korea yet to change behavior despite pressure: U.S. official
(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; ADDS comments, background throughout; TRIMS)
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, June 26 (Yonhap) -- A senior U.S. defense official said Friday she has yet
to see "any definitive signs of change" in North Korean behavior despite pressure
on the communist state to change course on its nuclear and missile programs.

"Their actions have been very provocative. Their rhetoric has been very
provocative. We have not yet seen any definitive signs of change," Michele
Flournoy, undersecretary of defense for policy, said.
Flournoy's visit to South Korea -- part of her Asia trip that also took her to
China and Japan this week -- came as a U.S. Navy destroyer was tracking a North
Korean ship suspected of carrying weapons banned under a U.N. Security Council
resolution.
The resolution was adopted after North Korea conducted its second nuclear test on
May 25. Flournoy said she met earlier Friday with South Korea's top diplomatic
and security officials on ways to implement the resolution that has tightened
sanctions on North Korea.
"The more the international community remains unified and firm in calling for
North Korea to denuclearize and change its course," the likelier it is to change,
she told reporters in Seoul.
Flournoy said she had "a good exchange of views" with officials during her visit
to China -- a North Korean ally considered to hold the key to the successful
implementation of the resolution.
But she said her country and China have yet to reach an agreement on a common
avenue to tackle North Korea, which also appears to be preparing to test-fire a
long-range ballistic missile.
"We had a good exchange of views on how best to deal with that threat, but those
conversations have yet to yield a common strategy. So we have to keep working on
that," she said.
Flournoy noted that the U.S. still has "incentives and disincentives that will
get North Korea to change course."
"Everything remains on the table, but we're focused on implementing the
resolution fully, responsibly and with our international partners," she said.
Flournoy ruled out the possibility of using military force to inspect the North
Korean ship, Kang Nam, which is believed to be traveling along the Chinese coast.
"The U.N. resolution lays out a regime that has a very clear set of steps," she
said. "I want to be very clear ... This is not a resolution that sponsors, that
authorizes use of force for interdiction."
samkim@yna.co.kr
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