Rice says only an idiot would trust North Korea

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview released on Friday only an "idiot" would trust North Korea, which is why the United States is insisting on a way to check its nuclear claims. A 2005 multilateral deal under which Pyongyang would abandon its nuclear programs has become snagged on Pyongyang's refusal to spell out a protocol on how to verify its disclosures about its nuclear programs.
The sticking point appears to be North Korea's reluctance to allow inspectors to take samples to test a declaration of its atomic program that it submitted this year as part of the aid-for-disarmament agreement. US President George W. Bush had hoped an agreement on verification with North Korea, which conducted a nuclear test in October 2006, would have opened the way to dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear arms capacity.