The United States and South Korea are postponing a decision on whether to resume joint military exercises while hoping North Korea will comply with a U.N. request to open its suspect nuclear sites.
"It is now time for North Korea to respond constructively," the State Department said Friday.But the initial response to the U.N. Security Council statement was negative. "The issuing even of a statement will not help the solution of the problems," North Korean Ambassador Pak Gil Yon said.
"We have nothing more to show the International Atomic Energy (Agency) inspectors at this time," he told reporters in New York.
A senior U.S. official said, meanwhile, that President Clinton probably will appoint a special adviser to concentrate on the North Korea situation.
The "Team Spirit" military exercises, designed to attest to the U.S. commitment to defend South Korea, had been put on hold while the Clinton administration used a combination of carrots and sticks to try to persuade North Korea to expose the suspect sites to IAEA inspectors.
The inspectors were admitted last month, but North Korea declined to permit them to complete their inquiry into whether plutonium is being produced for nuclear weapons. That touched off a U.S. threat to ask the Security Council to impose trade sanctions on Pyongyang.
China resisted, and the result after lengthy diplomatic jockeying was the statement Thursday urging North Korea to cooperate and warning that "further Security Council consideration will take place, if necessary."
"We are continuing to discuss with the United States" a decision on joint military maneuvers later in the year, South Korean Foreign Minister Han Seung-joo said after meeting with Defense Secretary William Perry. "And we have not reached a decision."
Han told reporters that following the Security Council's statement "we are leaving the door open for a dialogue and a negotiated settlement."
Pressed to elaborate, Han was reluctant. He said South Korea had adequate U.S. military support, but that "it could be better."
The United States has 37,000 troops in South Korea. Clinton last week approved shipment of Patriot missiles to bolster defense of South Korea.
The scheduling of Team Spirit exercises would have imposed additional pressure on North Korea, but China and other Asian countries are reluctant to back the isolated communist regime into a corner.