Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 4, 1994                   TAG: 9406060160
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

U.S.: WE WON'T BOW TO THREATS

North Korea has warned it would consider sanctions, which the Clinton administration is now aggressively seeking, an act of war. In heated talks with South Korea, the North once threatened that Seoul would become ``a sea of fire,'' though the threat later was retracted.

The United States began intensive consultations Friday with South Korea, Japan and Russia on how to retaliate for North Korea's removal of vital evidence about its nuclear weapons capability. The talks explored a range of options, from a full cutoff of trade to milder measures.

``We will not be intimidated by them,'' Assistant Secretary of State Robert Gallucci said. ``We don't think the international community will be intimidated by them.''

And yet, emphasizing the situation was serious, Gallucci also said: ``There are a lot of lives at stake if this situation gets out of hand.''

He began the consultations with Kim Sam Hoon, South Korea's special nuclear envoy, who in an exchange with reporters seemed resolute.

``We tried to resolve this through dialogue, but the North Korean response was not a positive one,'' Kim said. ``We need a basis for the continuation of dialogue. We think the basis has been destroyed. We need to discuss alternative options.''

President Clinton, in Rome, telephoned Russian President Boris Yeltsin and South Korean President Kim Young Sam, who was visiting Moscow. Yeltsin has proposed an international conference on the North Korean crisis.

The White House said Clinton told Yeltsin ``such a meeting might be appropriate at some point while underscoring the need first to return the North Korean nuclear issue to the U.N. Security Council.''

``The two agreed to remain in close contact as the issue develops,'' the White House said.

The White House said Clinton and Kim ``agreed that the next step is to pursue the issue of sanctions.''

Gallucci, who coordinates U.S. nuclear policy, said he could ``detect no differences between us and South Korea.''

South Korea and Japan, as neighbors of communist North Korea, are uneasy about cracking down on the Pyongyang regime.

Russia prefers following through on all diplomatic approaches. China also is not eager to punish its longtime Communist ally.

Gallucci said North Korea's refusal to segregate fuel rods from its 5-megawatt experimental reactor had ``seriously eroded'' the ability of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to determine whether weapons-grade plutonium was diverted before 1989, the last time the reactor was defueled.

However, he said North Korea had not destroyed other sources of information.