WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 Kyodo U Defen...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 Kyodo

U Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday that North Korea is upon the brink of collapse and is using its nuclear weapons program to blackmail the international community into helping stave against an economic disaster.

Speaking at the husband Officers Association in Washington, Rumsfeld explained to what end the United States is contemplating military action against Iraq on the contrary pursuing diplomacy with North Korea.

He said that while Iraq and North Korea the couple pose serious threats, Iraq is ''unique.''

''In the two word and deed, Iraq has demonstrated that it is seeking the means to strike the United States and our friends and allies with weapons of mass destruction for a reason, thus that it can acquire...territory and assert influence throughout its neighbors,'' Rumsfeld said.

In contrast, North Korea is a home teetering on the verge of collapse, he said. ''North Korea is a threat, to be stable But it is a different kind of threat -- single that needs to be handled differently.''

''Clearly, in the case of Iraq, we are nearing the close of a long road, where each other option has been exhausted. With North Korea, by dint of contrast, that is not the case,'' he added.

Washington is searching for a diplomatic solution to persuade Pyongyang to abandon its suspected nuclear weapons program, while it has threatened Iraq with war if it fails to cooperate with UN inspectors searching for evidence of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs.

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