It took the United States government some time after the confession to work out its own position; its A-team of strategic thinkers was tied up on Iraq issues. When it did react, the effect was to push the South Korean president onto the diplomatic sidelines and demote Japan back to poodle ally status.
On November 4, political leaders from China, Japan and South Korea used the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the three Northeast Asian countries (ASEAN plus 3) to urge that the nuclear programme be dismantled. This followed the Mexico Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, at which President George Bush persuaded Premier Zhu Rongji of China and President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea to join him in publicly calling for dismantling.