U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday she hopes North Korea does not conduct a second nuclear test, saying it would be a provocative act that would further isolate the country. “That would further deepen the isolation of North Korea, and I hope they would not take such a provocative act,” Rice told reporters at a Washington news conference before leaving on Tuesday on a trip to Japan, South Korea, China, and Russia. Rice said the United States seeks, without preconditions, to resume six-nation talks with North Korea on ending its nuclear ambitions. The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Saturday for tough sanctions against Pyongyang after it announced it had tested a nuclear device on October 9. Rice said part of her Asia trip was to reassure U.S. allies like South Korea and Japan that the United States would meet its security commitments to them. According to Rice, countries in the region must act together to prevent North Korea-which has a long history of selling its ballistic missile technology-from nuclear proliferation. “We and our partners must expand defensive measures to counter North Korea's full array of illicit and proliferation activities,” she said. Rice said she also wanted to send a signal to Iran that it could suffer if it kept pursuing nuclear weapons. “The Iranian government is watching, and it can now see that the international community will respond to threats from nuclear proliferation,” she said. “The Iranian government should consider the course that it is on, which could lead … to further isolation.”
