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Powell: US Not Considers Diplomatic Ties with DPRK
United States Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday here that Washington will continue studying its policy towards the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) but it does not consider building diplomatic ties with it for the time being.
"The north Korea is still a country that represents a very serious threat to our ally south Korea. It is a totalitarian regime," said Powell after Wednesday evening's ministerial meeting of the Group of Contact that focused on the Balkans affairs.
He added that Washington supports the rapprochement in the Korean Peninsula and will cautiously study its policy towards Pyongyang.
"We have serious differences with respect to some of the activities of that regime," Powell said.
"In recent years we have had discussions with north Korea... we are looking at how we might monitor and verify some of the ideas that are out on the table with respect to control such activities, " he added.
French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said at the same occasion that building diplomatic relations with a country does not necessarily mean approval to its policy.
However, nothing presses France to open diplomatic relations with Pyongyang either, he added.
All member nations of the European Union except France and Ireland have already established diplomatic relations with Pyongyang since the historic inter-Korean Peninsula meeting last June.
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