SEOUL, South Korea, August 29, 2002 (AP) -- North Korea is the world's foremost vendor of missile technology and has "one of the most robust offensive bio-weapons programs on earth," the top US arms negotiator said Friday, echoing President Bush's warnings about the communist state.

US Undersecretary of State John Bolton called North Korea "an evil regime that is armed to the teeth, including with weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles."

"President Bush's use of the term 'axis of evil' to describe Iran, Iraq and North Korea was more than a rhetorical flourish -- it was factually correct," Bolton said in a speech to a group of South Korean government officials and scholars.  "There is a hard connection between these regimes -- an axis along which flow dangerous weapons and dangerous technology."

The chief US arms-control negotiator was in Seoul for a three-day visit that included talks with South Korean officials on the communist North's arms proliferation. He discussed the same topic with Japanese officials in Tokyo earlier this week. His comments come at a sensitive time, as the two Koreas try to revive stalled reconciliation after months of tension. South Korea wants Washington to open dialogue with Pyongyang about the arms issue.

Bolton stressed that such overtures will depend on whether the North will stop developing and exporting missile parts and technology to "notable rogue state clients such as Syria, Libya and Iran." North Korea is "the world's foremost peddler of ballistic missile-related equipment, components, materials, and technical expertise."

[Why no mention of Pakistan? - Ed]  
Dr. AQ Khan Research Laboratories - KRL website.

Bolton also warned that a 1994 deal to provide North Korea with two power-generating nuclear reactors will be "in serious doubt" unless North Korea quickly allows UN inspections of its suspected nuclear weapons program.

[Bold face emphasis is mine - Ed]

The Dutch however always believed that in the end Bush would choose, or be forced to choose, multilateral solutions to international problems. Not only has Bolton always been very skeptical towards the UN, he has also been a fierce opponent of the International Criminal Court of which The Netherlands are the proud hosts. Minister Bot must fear that with Bolton at the UN, the ICC might once again come under heavy pressure.