South Korea announced on Thursday it would ban the entry of North Koreans who are part of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, the first step taken by Seoul to adhere to U.N. sanctions.
The decision came after North Korea said any action by Seoul under the U.N. resolution would "drive the inter-Korean relations to a catastrophe" and would be "a grave provocative act" which could lead to war.
President Bush said Pyongyang's threats were aimed only at dividing the five nations that have been in talks with North Korea on ending its nuclear program.
"The leader of North Korea likes to threaten," Bush told a news conference on Wednesday. "What he's doing is just testing the will of the five countries that are working together to convince him there is a better way forward for his people."
He also reiterated that the United States would keep up diplomatic efforts to end the crisis.
But other U.S. officials have not ruled out other options.
Underscoring fears about the North, a South Korean lawmaker, quoting from a Defense Ministry report, said North Korea might have extracted enough plutonium for up to seven nuclear weapons.
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