North Korea dismissed as laughable a US offer to provide multilateral security guarantees in exchange for Pyongyang ending its nuclear weapons programme, saying it was not worth even considering.
In a commentary published last night, the communist North's official KCNA news agency said Pyongyang wanted a bilateral treaty with the United States - a reference to its desire for a non-aggression pact that Washington has ruled out.
During a Bangkok summit of Asia-Pacific leaders that ended yesterday, US President George W. Bush significantly shifted policy by saying he was sharing ideas on how to give North Korea security guarantees short of a non-aggression treaty. All 20 other summit leaders backed this stance.
North Korea was not present because it is not a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum. But it lost little time in shooting down the idea and taking some shine off the summit.
"We have asked for the United States to stop its hostile policy and a bilateral treaty between North Korea and the United States, and not for some sort of security guarantee," said KCNA in a Korean-language commentary.
"It's laughable and doesn't deserve even any consideration that the United States gives a security guarantee on the condition that we drop our nuclear development."