North Korea Says Conducted Nuclear Test

[Guest]

<b>Bush warns N. Korea against selling nuclear arms </b>

<b>US demands the closure of 'cash cow' projects for Kim</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->THE United States and South Korea are on a collision course over sanctions against North Korea because <b>Seoul refuses to close projects that are channelling money to Kim Jong Il.
Condoleezza Rice will press South Korea to halt operations at two symbols of cross-border co-operation today. The Kaesong industrial complex and the Mount Kumgang tourist resort are a few miles north of the border dividing the neighbours</b>.

Both are funded by the South Korean Government and the huge Hyundai conglomerate, and are intended to build co- operation and trust between North and South. <b>But the US, backed by Japan, believes that the projects — Mount Kumgang in particular — are cash cows for Mr Kim. The hiking resort “seems to be designed to give money to the North Korean authorities”, </b>Christopher Hill, the chief US diplomat on the North Korean crisis, said.

The controversy has caused deep divisions within South Korea between conservatives who hate the idea of rewarding a country that is building nuclear weapons and liberals who believe engagement is the only way to bring North Korea out of its xenophobic isolation.

Kim Hyung O, leader of the South Korean Opposition, said yesterday: “<b>The Government’s position that it will maintain the projects is tantamount to letting the North take the South Korean people hostage.”</b>

<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->