WHITE HOUSE CALLS ON NORTH KOREA TO REVERSE CURRENT COURSE

The White House December 27 criticized North Korea's demand that inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) leave that country, and called on Pyongyang to shut down its nuclear weapons program.

"North Korea's decision today to expel the inspectors represents yet another violation of its IAEA safeguards agreement," Deputy White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told journalists at a briefing in Crawford, Texas, near the Texas ranch where President Bush is on vacation.

The United States government remains "in close contact with the IAEA and our friends and allies, including Japan and South Korea, on these latest moves by the North Korean regime," McClellan said.

"And we call on the regime in North Korea to reverse its current course, to take all steps necessary to come into compliance with its IAEA safeguards agreement and to eliminate its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable manner."

McClellan noted a December 26 statement by IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei that, in McClellan's words, "North Korea's actions of the past several days belie its announced justification to produce electricity."

These recent actions, McClellan said, "are not designed to produce electricity, but rather to advance North Korea's nuclear weapons capability."

The international community agrees "that North Korea's actions are a challenge to all responsible nations, and has made clear that North Korea's relations with the outside world hinge on the elimination of its nuclear weapons program," McClellan said.

The United States, he repeated, continues "to seek a peaceful resolution of the situation that North Korea has created by its pursuit of a nuclear weapons program. And we will continue our consultations with friends and allies in light of these latest moves by the North Korean regime. But let me make it clear that we will not negotiate in response to threats or broken commitments.

"And, again, I reiterate what I said a minute ago, that these recent actions by North Korea are designed not to produce electricity, but to advance North Korea's nuclear weapons capability."

WHITE HOUSE SAYS IRAQ MUST COMPLY FULLY WITH U.N. RESOLUTION

Asked if the United States is satisfied with the cooperation it is getting from Iraq in terms of the interviews of Iraqi scientists, McClellan said "there must be full compliance" by Iraq to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441.

It was President Bush "that directed the United States to seek disarmament through the U.N. And that's what we are doing. This is part of the process, and they must comply fully with the U.N. resolution. This is one part of that," McClellan said.

Resolution 1441, he pointed out, "calls on the regime in Iraq to provide immediate, unimpeded, unrestricted and private access to all officials and other persons who UNMOVIC (the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission) or the IAEA wish to interview."

There have been "a number of indications" that the Saddam Hussein regime continues to be unwilling to change its past behavior, he said. "We still have not seen the evidence that Iraq is willing to change, and that they are willing to comply with all aspects of the U.N. resolution which seeks disarmament."

McClellan added, however, that the Saddam regime will disarm. "It is their choice how they will disarm, but they will disarm," he said.

BUSH, POLAND'S PRESIDENT HOLD TELEPHONE CONVERSATION

President Bush spoke by telephone from his Texas ranch December 27 with Poland's President Aleksander Kwasniewski, McClellan told reporters.

"It was a warm conversation reflecting the close relationship" between the two countries, McClellan said.

"President Kwasniewski praised the results of the Prague Summit, particularly the decision on NATO enlargement. The two discussed Iraq's failure to provide full information to the United Nations. And President Kwasniewski informed the President of Poland's decision to buy F-16s. President Bush welcomed this news. The conversation was approximately 14 minutes long," the Deputy Press Secretary said.