long impasse in six-party negotiations on the North's nuclear ambitions should prompt change in the U.S. negotiating proposal, unveiled during the last six-party round in June 2004. "This is a time when we have to be a little stubborn on this," he said. Hill repeated administration complaints that China had not exerted enough pressure on Pyongyang to bring it back into negotiations but said he was confident U.S. ally South Korea had made clear its economic and political cooperation would be "minimal" until the North resumed the talks. With U.S. frustration building over the nuclear stalemate, a senior Pentagon official last week suggested the administration would soon decide whether to escalate pressure on Pyongyang and take the case to the U.N. Security Council. Hill said the United States reserves the right to do so in the future "but it is not something we're planning to do now." He said the administration was considering other options for dealing with the nuclear crisis but did not give details.
