Gates warns North Korea to consider options

SINGAPORE | Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates Saturday told North Korea's leadership that it must choose between deepening the country's pariah status and joining the international community and he vowed to defend the United States and its allies against nuclear and missile threats from the belligerent yet impoverished state.

"The choice to continue as a destitute, international pariah, or chart a new course, is North Korea's alone to make," Mr. Gates told a security conference here. "The world is waiting."

The language was some of the strongest used by U.S. officials since North Korea carried out its second test of a nuclear device on Monday.

Mr. Gates stopped short of calling the situation a crisis. But the U.S. has put its 28,000 troops in South Korea on high alert in response to the North Korean actions, which have included firing off a half dozen short-range missiles and making apparent preparations to test another long-range missile.

"The United States and our allies are open to dialogue, but we will not bend to pressure or provocation," he said. " We will not stand idly by as North Korea builds the capability to wreak destruction on any target in the region — or on us."

The secretary did not say what might happen if North Korea continues to escalate the situation but called for a unified international response to the nuclear test.

"What is central to multilateral efforts with respect to [North Korea] now is to try to peacefully stop those programs before they do, in fact, become, as the expression goes, clear and present danger — not just to the United States but to others here in the region," he said.

"For there to be a peaceful solution, it requires multilateral efforts and a willingness to impose real sanctions that bring both countries real pain for their failure to adhere to international norms," he added.

The U.S. and Japan introduced a U.N. Security Council resolution last week, and Russian and Chinese officials have indicated that they will agree to some sanctions. However, there are concerns among Western diplomats that the two countries — both North Korean allies — may not go far enough.