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The United States will impose the kind of sanctions against North Korea that were taken on India and Pakistan after their nuclear tests in 1998, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday.

The U.N.-invoked sanctions, in the meantime, should remain in place even if North Korea returns to nuclear negotiations, until Pyongyang has made progress in the talks, she said.

The U.S. understands why Seoul wants to engage with Pyongyang, the secretary said, but emphasized the North's nuclear gambit was taking place in South Korea's "backyard" and that the U.N. resolution requires a strong commitment by Seoul.

Speaking at the Washington-based think tank Heritage Foundation, the secretary specifically referred to the Glenn Amendment of 1994 as steps the U.S. would take in addition to the U.N. sanctions.

North Korea detonated a nuclear device on Oct. 9, its first atomic test after declaring in February last year that it possessed nuclear weapons. The Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1718, sanctioning the communist state for the test by freezing its assets related to weapons of mass destruction programs and banning the export and import of weapons-related items.

"As for our part, the United States is now obligated to adopt additional sanctions on North Korea under national legislation, including the Glenn Amendment," Rice said.

The secretary had returned from an extensive trip last week to Northeast Asia and Russia, where she tried to drum up support for full implementation of the U.N. resolution.

The Glenn Amendment allows the U.S. president to apply sanctions when a non-nuclear weapons state detonates a nuclear device.

Sanctions against India, which conducted the test in May 1998, included prohibition of activities funded under the foreign assistance act, U.S. government credit and other financial assistance by U.S. agencies.

Foreign military sales and financing were also prohibited, along with export licenses for certain munitions and dual-use goods.

The U.S. also opposed loans and other assistance to India by international institutions.

Assistance restrictions were already in force at the time of Pakistan's nuclear test, also conducted in May 1998, and the U.S. added new measures to restrict credit and credit guarantees, limit commercial exports of munitions and dual-use items, and restrict commercial bank lending to the Pakistani government.

A congressional directive prohibited the U.S. from supporting nonbasic human-needs lending by international financial institutions.

China and Russia, two veto-wielding members of the Security Council with still-strong ties to North Korea, have argued that U.N. sanctions should be lifted once North Korea returns to the six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.

South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan are members of the talks that have not been held since November last year due to Pyongyang's boycott.

Rice, however, said North Korea's return is not enough.

"We all agreed that if those talks resume, Resolution 1718 would remain in force until North Korea has made progress on denuclearization," she said.

The stakes of the game "have fundamentally changed," said Rice.

Getting China and South Korea aboard U.N. sanctions is seen as critical by the U.S., given that they are the largest aid donors to North Korea. Some of the Seoul-led inter-Korean economic cooperation projects have consequently come under scrutiny.

"We fully understand all of the reasons and all of the impulses that lead to a desire for engagement with the North," Rice said.

"The only thing that we ask is that everyone remember, including South Korea, that the North Koreans have just set off a nuclear device in South Korea's backyard."

The U.N. resolution "requires strong commitment by South Korea," she said. "Any activities need to be seen in the light of making certain to implement that resolution."

The choice is up to Seoul "how to evaluate the future of its policies toward North Korea," Rice said.

The secretary stressed the nonproliferation regime, now under its greatest strain in its 40-year history, must be strengthened and modernized.

"We are rallying the nations of the world behind a U.N. Security Council resolution that requires all countries to criminalize proliferation activities," said Rice.

The global initiative to combat nuclear terrorism, agreed on by the U.S. and Russia at their summit in July, will be launched next week with the first meeting of participants in Morocco on Monday.

Washington, Oct. 25 (Yonhap News)