Bush Administration Urges China to Put Economic Squeeze on North Korea

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http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBUS2Q5BAE.html

Top Bush Administration Official Urges China to Put the Economic Squeeze on Pyongyang

WASHINGTON (AP) - A senior Bush administration official suggested Thursday that China put economic pressure on North Korea to induce it to reopen nuclear weapons negotiations.

At a breakfast with national security reporters, Robert Joseph, the undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, said, "We think China can do more to get them to eliminate their nuclear weapons program."

China shares with the United States and other nations an interest in a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, Joseph said. "It is very much in China's interest to exert as much influence as it can," he said.

The negotiations, which also involve South Korea, Japan and Russia, have been sidetracked for a year due to a North Korean boycott. "My sense is that the North Koreans will come back," he said. "I hope in the near term."