North Korea has replied to President George W. Bush's first direct communication with its leader Kim Jong-Il, the White House said Friday. "We received a verbal reply," said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe, adding that "all members of the Six Party Talks look forward to the full implementation of the September 19, 2005 Joint Statement and the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."
The spokesman would not disclose the content of the reply, which was sent through "New York diplomatic channels." In his letter, Bush "says (diplomatic relations are) the ultimate goal, but it's still 'actions for actions,'" Johndroe said earlier, referring to the tit-for-tat steps leading to Pyongyang dismantling its nuclear programs. The US president urged Kim to fully disclose his secretive country's atomic activities as agreed by year's end, amid growing signs that the deadline will slip.
"I want to emphasise that the declaration must be complete and accurate if we are to continue our progress," Bush wrote, according to a US official familiar with the content of the December 1 letter.
The North shocked the world with its first nuclear test in October 2006. It agreed in February in the six-party talks to disable its plutonium-producing plants and declare all nuclear programs and facilities by year-end in return for major energy aid.
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