US President George W. Bush warned Saturday that the United States and its allies will not tolerate transfers of nuclear technology by North Korea to hostile regimes and terrorist groups.
In his weekly radio address, Bush said he intended to continue to cooperate on the North Korean nuclear issue with his counterparts in China, Russia, South Korea and Japan.

“In my meetings with leaders in the region, we discussed the threat of proliferation from North Korea. After North Korea’s recent nuclear test, the United Nations Security Council passed a unanimous resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea’s regime, and America is working with our partners to enforce those sanctions.

“We will also continue working with Japan, China, South Korea and Russia through the six-party talks,” Bush added.

And “our nations are speaking with one voice: North Korea must abandon its nuclear weapons programs, and we will not tolerate North Korea’s proliferation of nuclear technology to hostile regimes and terrorist networks,” the president said.

The statement came more than a month after Pyongyang carried out its first nuclear test.

On Saturday, Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun tried to paper over gaps in their North Korea strategies as Washington sought a united front on ending the nuclear crisis.

They met on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit as Bush launched two days of talks aimed at ensuring that China, Japan, Russia and South Korea were on the same page ahead of an expected new round of negotiations with the North.

In his radio address, the US president also underscored cooperation against terror groups, and the importance of trade.

“America will remain engaged in Asia, because our interests depend on the expansion of freedom and opportunity in this vital part of the world,” Bush said.

“Asia is important to America, because prosperity in our country depends on trade with Asia’s growing economies,” said the president, noting that the United States now trades more across the Pacific than the Atlantic.

But the leader of the United States, which has a dispute with Japan over customs barriers and is concerned China’s currency is undervalued, warned that free trade must be fair.

“As long as the playing field is level, America’s farmers, small businesses and workers can compete with anyone, so America will continue to pursue free and fair trade at every level with individual countries, across whole regions and through the World Trade Organization.

“America will remain engaged in Asia, because our interests depend on the expansion of freedom and opportunity in this vital part of the world,” Bush said.

“Asia is important to America, because prosperity in our country depends on trade with Asia’s growing economies. Today, America’s trade across the Pacific is greater than our trade across the Atlantic, and we need to continue opening up markets in this part of the world to American goods and services,” he said.

Source: AFP