In the U.S., presumptive Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry says North Korea poses a genuine nuclear threat, even while Washington begins to slim down its American troop presence here to relieve its overburdened forces in Iraq.

Kerry made the remarks in Seattle Thursday as he began an 11-day campaign focus on national security. During a live television speech, Kerry attacked the Bush administration's mishandling of Iraq and vowed that if elected president, he would "never let ideology trump the truth."

He also pledged to offer specific plans to build a new military capable of defeating enemies both new and old, and to stop the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

Kerry also stressed that the threat of terrorism demands alliances on a global scale, saying that the U.S. cannot go it alone and must magnify its power through such alliances.

Kerry laid out four principles that would guide his national security policy: New alliances with foreign countries an updated military to meet terrorist threats the use of diplomacy, intelligence, economic power and "the appeal of U.S. values and ideas" to keep America safe and freedom from dependence on Middle East oil.