US to give North Korea more time

The US and Japan expect N Korea to fulfil its disarmament pledge

The US has said it is willing to give North Korea more time to act on its nuclear disarmament pledge after talks with Japan on regional security issues.

But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Japanese counterpart, Taro Aso, warned Pyongyang their two countries did not have "endless patience".

Ms Rice also reaffirmed Washington's commitment to a plan to transform its mutual defence partnership with Japan.

The US wants Japan to take a more active military role in the region.

To allow such a move, the Japanese government has begun steps to revise the country's pacifist constitution.

Tokyo is also currently in the process of buying two missile defence systems, after which it will be responsible for defending not only itself but also the 50,000 US troops stationed on its territory.

Patience

The bilateral talks in Tokyo brought together US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Japan's defence minister, Fumio Kyuma, in addition to Ms Rice and Mr Aso.

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Afterwards, Ms Rice said the US and Japan would continue to strengthen their military alliance in light of North Korea's nuclear test in October and China's military dominance.

"The United States has the will and the capability to meet the full range of deterrence and security commitments to Japan," she said.

"Our meeting today demonstrates our commitment and our resolve to ensure that this alliance doesn't just continue, but that it gets stronger."

When asked about North Korea's refusal to shut its nuclear reactor by 14 April because of a dispute over $25 million of its funds frozen in a Macao bank by the US, Ms Rice said the financial issue had been "considerably more complicated than perhaps we had realised".

"We have been willing to step back and give some time for this to be resolved," she added.

Nevertheless, Ms Rice warned Pyongyang that the US and Japan expected to fulfil its initial commitments to disarmament as soon as possible.

"We don't have endless patience," she said.

"We do recognise that North Korea has continued to publicly affirm its obligation under the 13 February agreement and to affirm its intention to carry through. We expect them to do so."

The 13 February agreement saw North Korea commit to shut down and seal for eventual abandonment its main nuclear site at Yongbyon by 14 April.

In return, Pyongyang was promised aid equivalent to 50,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil (HFO), with a further 950,000 tons to follow once all its nuclear activities were fully declared and disabled.