Rumsfeld Says Situation in N.Korea 'Very Serious'

Thu Dec 5,12:17 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday the situation in North Korea was "very serious" and that Pyongyang had embarked on a dangerous path after violating nuclear agreements.

"There is no question but that the situation in North Korea is very serious. They have violated several agreements and proceeded on a very dangerous course," Rumsfeld said at a media briefing with the South Korean defense minister.

North Korea on Wednesday rejected a call by the International Atomic Energy Agency to open its nuclear weapons program to inspections, saying the U.N. nuclear watchdog was abetting U.S. policy toward the North.

The United States said North Korea admitted in October to enriching uranium secretly for a weapons program.

Pyongyang says it will neither confirm nor deny whether it actually has nuclear weapons. But it says it is entitled to have them, despite treaty pledges to stay nonnuclear, because it is under nuclear threat from Washington, which has branded North Korea part of an "axis of evil" with Iran and Iraq.

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