Bush holds up North Korea as possible model for Iran

By Caren Bohan

LANCASTER, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Wednesday held up North Korea as a possible model for resolving the Iranian nuclear standoff and reaffirmed a U.S. offer of talks if Tehran suspends uranium enrichment.

North Korea agreed earlier to disable its main nuclear reactor and provide a complete declaration of all nuclear activities by the end of the year under an accord hammered out in six-party talks.

Bush, speaking at the Chamber of Commerce in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, called the North Korea situation a "case study" for Iran in response to an audience question on why the United States would not hold direct negotiations with Tehran.

"Negotiations just for the sake of negotiations oftentimes send wrong signals," Bush said. "Negotiations to achieve consequences are worth doing."

He cited the need to keep up international pressure on Iran in the same way major world powers have pressed North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

Washington had refused direct talks with Pyongyang in favour of six-party talks, involving the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China, that proceeded on and off for years before yielding much progress.

Analysts say, however, the United States has less leverage with Iran, a major oil producer, than with impoverished North Korea, which was coaxed into the deal with much-needed fuel and a way out of its diplomatic isolation.

The West suspects that Tehran's nuclear program is aimed at producing nuclear weapons. Iran insists it wants nuclear technology for civilian electricity purposes and has defied U.N. resolutions calling on it to suspend uranium enrichment.