The United States and Japan declared on Saturday their "deep concern" over North Korea's refusal to resume negotiations over dismantling what Pyongyang admits are its nuclear weapons. In a joint statement issued in Washington after a Cabinet-level meeting on the Japanese-U.S. strategic security alliance, the two allies also urged North Korea to return unconditionally to the six-party talks that also involve South Korea, China and Russia. "It is really time for the North Koreans to take seriously that concern (by) returning to the six-party talks," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at a news conference after she and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met their Japanese counterparts. After three rounds hosted by China, North Korea has for months resisted diplomatic pressure to resume the talks that offer the poor, reclusive country energy aid and assurances it will not be attacked in exchange for dismantling its programs. --More 2145 Local Time 1845 GMT
