US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Bush administration has been persistent critic of President Islam Karimov's human rights record despite cooperation on anti-terrorism issues.
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley had tough words for North Korea, warning that any North Korean nuclear test would be a serious act of defiance.
N. Korean official news agency says Pyongyang wired South Korean Unification Ministry to request meeting, in order to "put the inter-Korean relations on a normal track"