U.S. Relations with the People's Republic of China (2006)

U.S. Department of State

Interview With Neil Cavuto on Fox News Your World

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Washington, DC
November 6, 2006

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QUESTION: Let me ask you, switching gears a little to North Korea.

SECRETARY RICE: Yes.

QUESTION: Is there a limit on how many tests we will allow them?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, one was enough from our point of view, which is why we worked with a coalition of states, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea in particular, to support UN Security Council Resolution 1718, which is a Chapter 7 resolution, to which China agreed that sanctions North Korean behavior for the test and deals with the risk that there might be a leakage or an effort to transfer nuclear materials out of North Korea. So I certainly hope that they would not test again, but they crossed a threshold when they tested.

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QUESTION: So what do we do when they fire off missiles next week? The week after?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, North Korea, I would assume that they are not going to because they did that and it ended them, the missiles and the nuclear tests, with sanctions, very heavy sanctions and with sanctions imposed by China, which has been their supporter. As a result, I think we see that since the international community spoke with one voice the North Koreans have now said they're ready to return to negotiations. We are going to work, and in fact there are two diplomats, Under Secretaries, today in the region working to make sure that when we return to the six-party talks they could actually be productive talks. But I think you see the North Koreans responding now to the international community's resolve.

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2006/1008

Released on November 6, 2006