SANTA FE, N.M.-
Gov. Bill Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador who has parleyed with North Korea, is urging diplomacy in dealing with an announcement by North Korea that it had set off an underground nuclear test.
Richardson, who said he considers the test a hostile act, urged the Bush administration to seek immediate support from the United Nations Security Council for U.S. efforts to stop North Korea’s nuclear weapons development.
The crisis needs face-to-face diplomacy, Richardson said in a statement released late Sunday.
The Democratic governor, who was U.N. ambassador and U.S. energy secretary during the Clinton administration, visited North Korea in October 2005 at the request of the Pyongyang regime. He toured North Korea’s nuclear reactor at Yongbyon as part of his effort to try to derail the development of nuclear weapons.
Shortly after taking office in 2003, the governor met in Santa Fe for three days with North Korean envoys.
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said the U.N. Security Council “must take swift action to stop this rogue nation from exporting this technology.”
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