Washington, September 20 (TKN) - US President George W Bush refused to give a direct comment on possible nuclear-tie between the DPRK and Syria at a White House press conference on Thursday.

"To the extent that they are proliferating, we expect them to stop their proliferation if they want the six-party talks to be successful," he said, adding, "Just -- it"s a general statement that we expect them not to be proliferating."

Certain parts of his statement are follows:

No comment on Israeli air raid into Syria

Q: Sir, Israeli opposition leader Netanyahu has now spoken openly about Israel"s bombing raid on a target in Syria earlier in the month.

I wonder if you could tell us what the target was, whether you supported this bombing raid? And what do you think it does to change the dynamic in an already hot region, in terms of Syria and Iran and the dispute with Israel, and whether the U.S. could be drawn into any of this?

BUSH: I"m not going to comment on the matter.

Would you like another question?

Q: Did you support it?

BUSH: I"m not going to comment on the matter.

Q: Can you comment about your concerns that come out of it at all, for the region?

BUSH: No. Saying I"m not going to comment on the matter means I"m not going to comment on the matter. You"re welcome to ask another question if you"d like to ...

(CROSSTALK)

BUSH: ... on a different subject.

No comment on possible nuclear tie between the DPRK and Syria

Q: I know you won"t comment on that but let"s talk about whether or not you believe that North Korea is aiding Syria with a nuclear program.

BUSH: We have made it clear, and we"ll continue to make it clear, to the North Koreans through the six-party talks that we expect them to honor their commitment to give up weapons and weapons programs and, to the extent that they are proliferating, we expect them to stop their proliferation if they want the six-party talks to be successful.

In other words, whether it be the exportation of information and/or materials is an important part.

It doesn"t matter to us whether they do, in terms of the six-party talks, because they"re both equally important, I guess is the best way to say it.

In other words, we want -- it doesn"t matter -- let me rephrase that -- it matters whether they are. But the concept of proliferation is equally important as getting rid of programs and weapons.

Q: So you believe they are aiding Syria?

BUSH: Just -- it"s a general statement that we expect them not to be proliferating.

Link to source:
09/20/2007 Tongil Korea
09/20/2007 Text of Bush News Conference, AP
Related artices:
09/20/2007 Bush warns N Korea against any arms proliferation, AFP