Bush urges N. Korea to agree to verification regime on uranium program

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President George W. Bush urged North Korea
on Monday to agree to a regime to verify its nuclear weapons programs, including
an alleged uranium program, under a multilateral aid-for-denuclearization deal.

In a final news conference to wrap up his eight years in the White House, Bush
said a strong verication protocol is needed to "ensure that they don't develop a
highly enriched uranium program."
The outgoing president's remarks follow a similar concern raised by Vice
President Dick Cheney last week that North Korea appears to have a uranium-based
nuclear program aside from its plutonium-producing reactor, which is being
disabled under the six-party talks that include the two Koreas, the U.S., China,
Japan and Russia.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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