North Korea 'testing our will', says Bush
President George Bush today said fresh threats by North Korea in the nuclear test row are designed to test the will of the five countries that are working to achieve a political settlement.
Mr Bush spoke hours after North Korea warned South Korea against joining international sanctions against Pyongyang. It said the Seoul government would "pay a high price" if it joins the international effort to punish North Korea for its nuclear test.
"The leader of North Korea likes to threaten," Mr Bush told a news conference.
He said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice informed him that, based on her recent travels, she found that China, South Korea, Japan and Russia all agree that it is important to close ranks in support of the UN Security Council resolution on North Korea.
"Our goal is to continue to remind out partners that when we work together we are more likely to achieve the objective, which is to solve this problem diplomatically," Mr Bush said.
Earlier today, the top US military officer said that if war broke out with North Korea, American fighters would have to rely on ``brute force'' because much of their high-tech bombing equipment is tied down in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: "You need precision intelligence to drop precision munitions.
"And a lot of our precision intelligence assets are currently being used in the Gulf region."
That, he said, would mean "more brute force, wherever we might have to go next, than it would be if we weren't already involved in the war we have going on in Iraq and Afghanistan."
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