President George W. Bush said Monday North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il will 'have some choices to make' after the UN imposed sanctions on Pyongyang over its nuclear test.
Bush also reiterated in a US television interview that the United States would not meet bilaterally with North Korea and favoured multilateral talks to convince the Stalinist regime to abandon its nuclear program.
"He (Kim Jong-Il) is going to have some choices to make," Bush said in an interview with Fox News. "There is a better way forward for his country."
The UN Security Council adopted measures Saturday that impose sanctions on North Korea in a bid to force the reclusive regime back into multi-party disarmament negotiations following Pyongyang's announcement of a nuclear test on October 9.
"I am deeply concerned about the starvation inside of North Korea. I am worried about concentration camps inside of North Korea. I am worried about the human condition inside North Korea," he said.
"And we are now making it clear -- not just the United States -- but other nations are making it very clear to North Korea that there is a better way forward. And so, we'll be able to judge his intentions and his motives as time goes on."
Bush insisted that the multilateral approach was still the best for dealing with the North Korean regime, pointing to what he said was the failed bilateral approach carried out by his predecessor, president Bill Clinton.
"My idea is real simple on this: more leaders saying the same thing to North Korea makes it more likely we'll be able to solve this issue peacefully," he said.
Bush also said that he was confident that China would enforce the UN sanctions, despite concerns expressed by Beijing.
"China and the United States share the same objective," Bush said.
"I do know that the Chinese are deeply concerned about North Korea having a nuclear weapon," he said.