Wire: Former President Bush Urges Strong Message to North Korea

Off the Wire:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2, 2009 -- Newswire services Sunday reported that former President George W. Bush called on America's partners in negotiations on North Korea's nuclear program to send a strong and clear message to the regime to stop its atomic activity, quoting a news report filed Saturday.

The U.S., South Korea, China, Japan and Russia should tell the North it will continue to face economic sanctions and other consequences if it insists on defying U.N. resolutions, Bush said in a speech to an economic forum on the South Korean southern resort island of Jeju, according to Yonhap news agency.

North Korea conducted its second nuclear test in May and a barrage of missile tests in July, drawing international condemnation and new U.N. sanctions.

Bush's comments came as the U.S. is moving to enforce U.N. as well as its own sanctions against the communist regime to punish the atomic test, The Associated Press reported.

North Korea has rejected the U.N. resolutions and vowed not to return to the disarmament talks, saying the forum seeks only to "disarm and incapacitate" the communist nation.

(Report from newswire sources.)

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