Rice challenges North Korea's nuclear report

US SECRETARY of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday called on North Korea to fulfil its obligations and accused the secretive state of not answering US suspicions that it is enriching uranium and proliferating technology when it released an inventory of its nuclear plans last week.

On Thursday, North Korea delivered a long-delayed list of its nuclear activities, as it was required to do in a six-way disarmament-for-aid deal. The inventory mostly outlined Pyongyang's programme to produce arms-grade plutonium.

But Rice, in a joint news conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, said: "Thus far we don't have the answers we need on either. At the end of this we have to have the abandonment of all programmes, weapons and materials."

North Korea has denied US accusations of proliferating technology to the likes of Syria and having a clandestine programme to enrich uranium for weapons.

Rice called on the North to live up to its obligations under the deal it reached with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

In a symbolic move to show its commitment, North Korea toppled the cooling tower at its plutonium-producing reactor on Friday. North Korea later welcomed US moves to drop it from a terrorism blacklist and called on Washington to halt its hostile policy towards the country.