STEVE INSKEEP, host: Days after North Korea claimed that it tested a nuclear device, we are well into the war of words. North Korea sent a warning to one of its neighbors, Japan. It said if the Japanese go ahead with economic sanctions, North Korea will respond with, quote, "strong measures." At the United Nations, U.S. diplomats still want action against North Korea, and the latest American proposal softens the description of that action, in hopes of winning the support of China and Russia.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: There's also some dispute on how to negotiate with North Korea. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this week that one-on-one talks between North Korea and the U.S. won't work. The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, thinks they could.</s>Mr. KOFI ANNAN (Secretary General, United Nations): I have always argued that we should talk to parties whose behavior we want to change, whose behavior we want to influence. And from that point of view, I believe that U.S. and North Korea should talk.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: That's U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
North Korea has sent a warning to Japan. Pyongyang said that if the Japanese go ahead with economic sanctions, North Korea will respond with "strong measures." At the United Nations, U.S. diplomats are working to coordinate action against North Korea.