Days ahead of an expected new UN resolution that would toughen sanctions against North Korea, President Barack Obama's special envoy issued a plea for renewed international dialogue and explicitly ruled out any military action against the communist country. Stephen Bosworth, the special envoy on North Korea, used an appearance Tuesday night before The Korea Society's annual dinner to undercut Pyongyang's justifications for defying the UN Security Council and conducting a second nuclear test, its latest provocation resulting in the likelihood of added council sanctions this month. But he also made clear, without elaborating, that the Pentagon would not sit on its hands. “North Korea's recent actions to develop a nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile capacity require that we expand our consideration of new responses, including our force posture and extended deterrence options,” Bosworth said. “However, the North Korean claim to be responding to a ‘threat' or a ‘hostile policy' by the US is simply groundless,” he said. “Quite to the contrary, we have no intention to invade North Korea or change its regime through force, and this has been made clear to the DPRK repeatedly,” he added, using the acronym for Democratic People's Republic of North Korea. Bosworth signaled that the US would still try to resuscitate the so-called six-party talks with the North as well as work with other members of the UN.
