N. Korea Crisis A 'Serious Challenge'

The United States on Friday condemned North Korea's decision to withdraw from the nuclear arms treaty, calling it "another step in its confrontation approach to the international community."

The condemnation was announced by the State Department, which called the decision "a serious challenge" to the international community and a further escalation of North Korea's departure from international standards.

Spokesman Richard Boucher also called the move illegal, saying North Korea could not abandon the treaty, which provides for international inspection, without giving 90 days notice.

He said North Korea's decision to suspend its participation a decade ago and then to rejoin the accord did not count toward the 90-day period.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration awaited the outcome of talks in New Mexico, where Gov. Bill Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador, was hosting a second day of discussions Friday in Santa Fe with two North Korean U.N. diplomats. They met for two hours over dinner on Thursday.

"The talks were cordial but candid," Richardson's spokesman, Billy Sparks, told a group of reporters waiting in the cold outside the governor's mansion.

Richardson stressed that he is simply listening to the North Koreans. He said he supports administration policy on North Korea and hopes he can do some good to ease tensions, but he "wouldn't expect any huge breakthroughs," reports CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller. Richardson insists he is not negotiating.

Tensions escalated late Thursday when North Korea's official news agency announced the communist nation's withdrawal from the global nuclear arms control treaty.

North Korea claimed that leaving the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty would free it from safeguard obligations to the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency.

"The withdrawal from the NPT is a legitimate self-defensive measure taken against the U.S. moves to stifle" North Korea, its official news agency said. North Korea has repeatedly accused the United States of plotting an invasion.

The announcement came as the United States was awaiting a reply from Pyongyang about its decision to open dialogue to seek a peaceful resolution of the country's nuclear weapons development. The State Department and White House had no comment Thursday on the withdrawal.

While Richardson met with the envoys, the administration appeared to expand on its demands. Officials said that even if talks resumed, North Korea must do more than stop its efforts to produce plutonium and enrich uranium.

"The next step is for North Korea to completely dismantle its nuclear weapons program," said Sean McCormack, a White House spokesman. Separately, a senior administration official said the White House wants North Korea's nuclear facilities at Yongbyon taken apart.

The White House said North Korea, not the United States, initiated the unusual diplomatic channel through Richardson, a Democrat and former Clinton administration official.

"The only message we expect is what America's position is, that we are ready to talk, and that we will not negotiate," presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "That's the U.S. position. You should not see this as anything beyond that."

Richardson was a surprise intermediary in the U.S.-North Korean dispute. He was sworn in as governor just eight days before the North Koreans turned up at his residence.

He had visited North Korea on two diplomatic missions while he was still a member of Congress during the 1990s.

"I want to be able to help my country," he said, commenting before the arrival of the two visitors.

The initiative for the meeting was taken by North Korea's deputy U.N. ambassador, Han Song Ryol, whom Richardson had met previously during his diplomatic travels. The North Korean overture came as the United States was awaiting a response from Pyongyang to meetings held Monday and Tuesday among U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials on the North Korean nuclear situation.

The United States offered in a joint statement to hold talks with North Korea on the dispute over its resumption of a nuclear weapons program.

A senior official said Thursday night just before the meeting that the administration hoped the North Koreans were prepared to answer U.S. concerns about their nuclear program in a positive way.

Richardson greeted Han and a colleague, Mun Jong Chol, around 6 p.m. MST outside the governor's mansion. They shook hands and went inside for their discussion.

North Korean diplomats require U.S. permission to leave New York City, and Secretary of State Colin Powell granted it on Wednesday to facilitate the talks.

Richardson said before the meeting: "I support the administration's policy. I am going to try to be helpful. I am not an official negotiator. The administration has many channels that they are pursuing with the North Koreans."

Boucher said Powell went over U.S. policy toward North Korea with Richardson.

Richardson served both as U.N. ambassador and energy secretary for the Clinton administration. North Korea may have turned to him after recalling the warmer ties it enjoyed with Washington during that period.

North Korea welcomed former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to its capital, Pyongyang, in October 2000. President Clinton gave serious consideration to a visit in the final weeks of his presidency but decided against it. Just a year after Clinton left office, President Bush designated North Korea as part of an "axis of evil."

The Bush administration contends North Korea acted in bad faith during the Clinton era by carrying out a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of agreements even as it was displaying friendship toward Washington.