U.S. open to ties with North Korea

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BEIJING -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday left open the door to establishing diplomatic ties with North Korea if it abandons its nuclear ambitions.

She tempered this first for the Bush administration, however, by cautioning that the North's return to six-party talks on its nuclear program is not yet cause for celebration.

Pyongyang, Miss Rice warned, "has a bar to pass" when the negotiations resume later this month.

"The issue now is for North Korea to make a strategic choice to give up its nuclear weapons programs," she said when asked about diplomatic ties with Pyongyang at a press conference in Beijing. "So let's do that, and we will see what else comes."

Five years ago, the Clinton administration offered the North the prospect of formal relations with the United States for the first time since the communist state's creation in 1948. This remains one of Pyongyang's top goals, but until now the Bush administration has rebuffed the North every time the topic comes up.

Miss Rice's vague, open-ended response came during a visit with Chinese leaders in which she also spoke of the "great momentum" in U.S.-China relations despite the latter's "troubling" arms buildup.

She had said several times in recent months that Washington considers North Korea a "sovereign" state. The term apparently was of significance for Pyongyang, which agreed Saturday to rejoin the multiparty talks.

U.S. diplomat Christopher Hill reportedly provided an explicit assurance on the point at a "steak and cheesecake" dinner Friday with North Korean officials. He also told his counterparts that Washington had no plans to attack North Korea, the Associated Press reported.

The next round of talks is to be held the week of July 25, but Miss Rice said it is only "the first step" toward resolving the nuclear standoff.

"It is a good thing that we are going back to the talks, but it's only a start," the secretary of state said. "It is not the goal of the talks to have talks, [but] to make progress."