Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President George W. Bush said the U.S. and South Korea are committed to continuing negotiations with North Korea about its weapons program and that he expects that the peninsula will ``one day'' be united.

Bush and South Korea's President Roh Moo Hyun said at a news conference in Gyeongju, South Korea, that they remain committed to the six-party negotiations aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons development.

In praising South Korea's cooperation in the talks, Bush said, ``I see a peninsula one day that is united in peace.''

Roh said he wanted the negotiations, involving the U.S., South Korea, China, Russia, Japan and North Korea, to resume ``as soon as possible.'' A nuclear armed North Korea ``won't be tolerated,'' he said.

North Korea signed an agreement on Sept. 19 with the five other partners in the talks to end all its nuclear programs in exchange for food, development aid and security guarantees. Last week, talks ended in an impasse as the country refused demands to shut a reactor used to make weapons-grade plutonium.

The U.S. has insisted North Korea scrap partially built facilities at Shinpo and dismantle existing reactors, including the one in Yongbyon from which North Korea this year extracted 8,000 spent fuel rods, a first step in processing plutonium that can arm warheads.

``We are exploring more ways we can resolve this issue,'' Roh said.

On another subject, Bush said in response to a question that U.S. Democrats are being ``irresponsible'' in accusing his administration of tilting intelligence about Iraq's pursuit of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons before leading an invasion of that country in March 2003.

To contact the reporters on this story: Brendan Murray in Busan at brmurray@bloomberg.net William Roberts in Busan at wroberts@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 16, 2005 22:47 EST