FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States has no deadline for deciding on next steps in policy toward North Korea, rejecting a comment by a senior Defense Department official that new measures may be in place by the end of June.
The Pentagon official, speaking to reporters aboard Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's plane during a swing through Asia, said the administration may be poised to refer the matter of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program to the United Nations.
Rice noted that President George W. Bush said recently that the administration "still believes that there is life left" in the stalled six-party process. "I think that the idea that we're going to decide one way or the other is a little forward leaning," Rice said Sunday. "I would say, you know, I don't put timelines on things." Rice acknowledged that the administration will look at options beyond the six-party format. |