SINGAPORE — North Korea’s progress on nuclear weapons and long-range missiles is "a harbinger of a dark future” and has created a need for more pressure on the reclusive communist government to change its ways, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Saturday.
He said the North’s nuclear program does not "at this point” represent a direct military threat to the United States. However, the North’s efforts pose the potential for an arms race in Asia that could spread beyond the region, he added.
At an annual meeting of defense and security officials, Gates said past efforts to cajole North Korea into scrapping its nuclear weapons program have only emboldened it.
Patience wears thin
North Korea’s yearslong use of scare tactics as a bargaining chip to secure aid — only to later renege on promises — has worn thin the patience of nations negotiating with them, he said.
"I think that everyone in the room is familiar with the tactics that the North Koreans use. They create a crisis and the rest of us pay a price to return to the status quo ante,” he said in a question and answer session after his speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue.
"As the expression goes in the United States, ‘I am tired of buying the same horse twice.’ I think this notion that we buy our way back to the status quo ante is an approach that I personally at least think we ought to think very hard about. There are perhaps other ways to try and get the North Koreans to change their approach.”
The statements were echoed by the South Korean defense minister and even China, North Korea’s strongest ally. They reflect fears in the region that last week’s nuclear and missile tests by North Korea could spiral out of control and lead to fighting.
by the associated press
He said the North’s nuclear program does not "at this point” represent a direct military threat to the United States. However, the North’s efforts pose the potential for an arms race in Asia that could spread beyond the region, he added.
At an annual meeting of defense and security officials, Gates said past efforts to cajole North Korea into scrapping its nuclear weapons program have only emboldened it.
Patience wears thin
North Korea’s yearslong use of scare tactics as a bargaining chip to secure aid — only to later renege on promises — has worn thin the patience of nations negotiating with them, he said.
"I think that everyone in the room is familiar with the tactics that the North Koreans use. They create a crisis and the rest of us pay a price to return to the status quo ante,” he said in a question and answer session after his speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue.
"As the expression goes in the United States, ‘I am tired of buying the same horse twice.’ I think this notion that we buy our way back to the status quo ante is an approach that I personally at least think we ought to think very hard about. There are perhaps other ways to try and get the North Koreans to change their approach.”
The statements were echoed by the South Korean defense minister and even China, North Korea’s strongest ally. They reflect fears in the region that last week’s nuclear and missile tests by North Korea could spiral out of control and lead to fighting.
by the associated press
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