U.S. not to be `blackmailed` by N. Korea: Clinton

Responding to North Korea`s purported reactivation of its plutonium-producing facilities, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday that Washington wants dialogue with Pyongyang, but the communist country should first retract its brinkmanship, according to Yonhap News Agency.



"We`re not going to be blackmailed by the North Koreans,"

Clinton said during her surprise visit to Baghdad.



Her comments followed North Korea`s announcement that it has begun reprocessing fuel rods at its main nuclear facilities in Yongbyon in protest of the United Nation`s move to punish the North`s April 5 rocket launch.



Days after the launch, the 15-member U.N. Security Council issued a presidential statement calling for the implementation of a

2006 resolution barring the North from launching ballistic missiles.



North Korea expelled U.N. and U.S. experts from its Yongbyon facilities that were being disabled under an aid-for-denuclearization deal and warned that it will never return to the six-way talks on its nuclear program.



Undaunted by the threats, a U.N. committee Friday blacklisted three North Korean firms suspected of being involved in the trade of missiles and weapons of mass destruction. All U.N. member states that deal with those companies must now freeze their assets.



"We`re going to crack down in conjunction with the Chinese, the Russians, the Japanese, the South Koreans and other allies to try to ... tighten the band around North Korea so that they cannot do that," Clinton said, citing the other members of the six-way talks.



The secretary emphasized, however, that Washington wants to talk with Pyongyang to resolve the crisis.



"We hope that we will be able to resume discussions with North Korea that will lead to their assuming responsibility for denuclearizing the peninsula," she said.



Diplomatic sources said Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. point man on North Korea, may travel to Northeast Asia next month, but they were unsure of whether Bosworth will seek to visit North Korea during the potential tour.