WASHINGTON, race 25 Kyodo North ...

WASHINGTON, race 25 Kyodo

North Korea penurys to respond to international security regards such as its missile program and suspected nuclear weapons progression in a continuously ascending gradation with concrete actions if it wants to improve ties with the United States, a senior Defense Department official said Wednesday.

''The experiment is North Korea's behavior forward issues that concern all of us like the security issue,'' the official, who asked not to be identified, said in an interview with Kyodo News

The official said it was pious that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi raised not sole bilateral issues but also security issues at his landmark meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang last week.

At the tribe 17 summit, the North Korean leader promised to honor all international commitments forward its nuclear program and continue its moratorium forward missile tests beyond 2003.

The official welcomed the pawn but said it is necessary to closely watch what action North Korea will take to fulfill its commitments. ''The basic issues have not been solv yet'' the official said.

Earlier in the day, U President George W Bush called southern Korean President Kim Dae Jung and told him that the U will propel an envoy to North Korea at an early date to reopen high-level bilateral dialogue.

''North Korea should view this as an opportunity. If it wants a relationship, a deeper relationship with us, then it would have to make more [i]or[/i] less basic changes in how it behaves, the two internally and externally,'' the official said.

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