President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed on Sunday to “work hard” to convince North Korea to follow a June agreement to abandon its nuclear-weapon programs, the White House said Monday. Bush “expressed his concern to President Hu” over Pyongyang's announcement that it plans to restart it main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, frozen under six-country negotiations, said national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe. According to the spokesman, “the two presidents agreed that they would work hard to convince the North to continue down the path established in the six-party talks toward denuclearization.” Pyongyang has asked the U.N. nuclear monitors to remove seals and surveillance equipment from Yongbyon, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Monday. North Korea said last week that it was working to restart the Yongbyon reactor and no longer wanted U.S. concessions pledged in the June agreement. Pyongyang is angry that the United States has not removed it from a terrorism blacklist in return for nuclear disablement work. Washington says it will not remove it until Pyongyang accepts inspections to verify the details of the nuclear declaration. The six-country talks comprise the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan, and Russia.
