US to draw the line on N Korea

Washington: The US is very worried about North Korea and President Bush says it is time for the international community to draw the line.

He was speaking to the media on his birthday on Friday.

"We had the six-party talks with North Korea, but Pyongyang still defied China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and us. All of us had said, 'Don't fire that rocket'. Pyongyang not only went ahead and fired the that rocket, but six others as well." said Bush.

"Now it's best for all of us to go to the United Nations' Security Council and say that these are the lines and tell North Korea what we intend to do," he added.

Meanwhile in Seoul, US envoy Christopher Hill rejected North Korea's demand that Washington lift financial measures against the regime, but he backed a Chinese proposal for an informal meeting of countries involved in six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

Hill was in Seoul on a tour of regional capitals in to coordinate the international response to the missile test-firing on Wednesday.

The tests sparked widespread criticism of the regime, but the US is split with China and Russia over whether to punish Pyongyang or not.

Beijing, where Hill held meetings on Friday, has floated the idea that members of the six-party talks - North and South Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the US - hold an informal meeting on the standoff.

Though the US and South Korea backed the idea, Pyongyang is currently boycotting the formal six-nation talks held in Beijing.

"The Chinese have talked about putting together a six-party informal and we think that all countries are prepared to come to that informal meeting," Hill told reporters.

The US envoy, who was to meet South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon later Saturday and head to Japan on Sunday, dismissed a North Korean demand that the US drop its crackdown on the regime's alleged financial crimes, such as money-laundering and counterfeiting.

"This is not a time for so-called gestures of that kind," Hill said when asked for a reaction to the North Korean demand. "We have a country that has fired off missiles in a truly reckless way that affects regional security."

NorthKorea has boycotted the those talks for months in protest on the crackdown, and has refused to return until the punitive measures are lifted. Washington, however, has argued that the two issues are separate and should not be linked.

The North in recent days has remained defiant, defending its right to test missiles and saying the launches could continue. Pyongyang has also threatened to take 'stronger' measures against anyone who tries to stop further tests.

(With inputs from Associated Press)