U.S. military stepping up pressure on North Korea

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration, while preparing for talks soon with North Korea, is also stepping up military pressure with plans for a joint naval exercise next month to train for interdicting arms and other materials at sea that are being transported to and from the North.

Administration officials and Asian diplomats said that the exercise would be carried out in the Coral Sea off northeastern Australia in September and that it was described as directed at no one country. A principal intention, however, was to send a sharp signal to North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, they said.

The next round of talks with North Korea is planned for Aug. 27 in Beijing, with six nations taking part. The United States has been working with its allies to decide which items to present, from economic benefits to security guarantees, that would be provided if the North Korean government agreed to shut down its program verifiably and irreversibly.

At the same time, the United States has stepped up efforts with Japan, South Korea and nine other nations to interdict ships doing business with North Korea. Last December, Spanish warships stopped a North Korean ship carrying Scud missiles to Yemen but released it after Yemen protested.

"We are not saying which countries are being targeted, because it would not be politically wise," said an Asian diplomat, referring to the September naval exercise. "But the American government believes that one of the reasons why North Korea has agreed to the six-party talks in Beijing is that they are feeling the pinch."

Some diplomats worry that military exercises might be provocative by the government of Kim Jong Il in North Korea, and perhaps by China and Russia, which oppose confrontational tactics toward North Korea. But administration officials said it was essential for the United States to have a more aggressive policy aimed at preventing North Korea from obtaining materials for its nuclear program or from selling missile parts, drugs or other contraband to get hard currency to pay for its weapons.

A Pentagon official said planning for the Coral Sea exercise had not been completed. It was not clear which countries, beyond Australia and the United States, would take part with ships.

The exercises are part of a program announced by President Bush and leaders of other nations earlier this summer as the Proliferation Security Initiative.

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