US 'unclear' about sanctions against N Korea

Bush admin has said it was "unclear" as regards the role of the US in enforcing sanctions against North Korea.

The Bush administration has said it was "unclear" as regards the role of the US in enforcing sanctions against North Korea and emphasised that any more nuclear testing by the Stalinist state would "further" isolate Pyongyang in the international community.

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Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld when asked about the American role in sanctions said "unclear". "Obviously, no one country can deal with a problem like that alone. It takes cooperation among a great many countries to participate. And things move in land, sea and air. It's complicated and only time will tell."

He also said that the US had no information about North Korea going in for a second round of nuclear testing.

"We won't know until something happens. But there has been speculation about that in the press. But some of it's very general, that we've seen them do things in multiples rather than singles. And, of course, very recently, they fired off some missiles, six or eight, as I recall: shorter range and then the Taepo Dong-2. There's speculation that they may want to do something additional. There's also speculation they may not. So only time will tell," Rumsfeld said.

Meanwhile, White House Spokesman Tony Snow said that the consequences of a second North Korean nuclear test would be "further isolation" of that country.