Washington: Maintaining its earlier stand of not accepting a nuclear-armed North Korea, Washington has warned Pyongyang that the US would forge a solid front with friendly countries and the UN to eliminate all programmes and facilities that could lead to development of nuclear weapons.

"We do not want to see North Korea have a nuclear capability. We believe it is also the opinion of all of North Korea's neighbours," US Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters on May 5.

"The US will continue to work with its friends in the region, Japan, South Korea, China, Russia, Australia and others, to have a solid front in making it clear to North Korea that it would be in their best interest to remove and eliminate all programmes and facilities that they have that would lead to the development of nuclear weapons," he said.

"At the same time, it is up to the North Koreans to make an informed judgment as to what they wish to do, and the US will work with its friends and allies to make sure that whatever they might already have or might develop in the future is not something that would be exported to the rest of the world. It is a dangerous situation," Powell said appearing jointly with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Secretary General Lord Robertson.

"These kinds of behaviour will not help the people of North Korea come out of the serious economic difficulties that they find themselves in," he said adding, "So we will continue to pursue the President's policy of diplomacy on a multilateral basis, working with our friends in the region, as well as with the United Nations."

PTI