| http://www.news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=185672002
Bush to backtrack on ‘evil axis’ charge in Korea peace gesture IAN MATHER DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT PRESIDENT George Bush will back away from recent accusations that North Korea is part of an "axis of evil" when he visits South Korea this week. He will offer "unconditional talks" to the North Koreans, according to US officials, in a gesture to South Korea’s president Kim Dae-jung, a long-time proponent of dialogue with the communist north. In his State of the Union speech to Congress last month, Bush accused North Korea, Iran and Iraq of forming an "axis of evil" that was seeking weapons of mass destruction. The speech provoked a predictably furious response from North Korea, and dismay in South Korea. Along with other Bush rhetoric, it raised speculation that the US was preparing to take its war against terrorism beyond Afghanistan. On the eve of the Bush visit, North Korea accused the American president of having "moral leprosy", and said the visit would increase the danger of war. "Trigger-happy Bush’s projected visit to South Korea is aimed at increasing the danger of war, wrecking peace and straining the situation on the Korean peninsula," the state-run newspaper, Minju Joson, said. "Among successive US rulers Bush is the most bellicose and heinous president, who has desperately pursued confrontation with the Democratic Republic of Korea." Bush’s hard-line stance has also been a blow to South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, who is pursuing a delicate rapprochement with North Korea, known as the "sunshine policy". This culminated in Kim’s landmark summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang in June 2000, which led to co-operation between the two governments on a range of humanitarian and economic exchanges. It also led to emotional reunions between families that had been divided since the Korean War. In late 2000 president Bill Clinton came close to a deal with Pyongyang to halt the north’s exports of ballistic missiles. But US negotiations with North Korea stalled after Bush took office and undertook a policy review. He later agreed to resume the talks, but so far Pyongyang has resisted. The communist state is baulking at US calls for talks on its massive forward deployment of conventional weapons and troops near its border with South Korea. The US has 37,000 troops stationed in South Korea. North and South Korea are still technically at war because the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. US officials say that not only will Bush tone down his rhetoric during the visit but that Korea and the US have agreed to reward North Korea if the communist country shows progress towards stopping its controversial development of weapons of mass destruction. The rewards include removing North Korea from the US list of nations sponsoring terrorism and offering a package of economic assistance, according to government officials. In addition, Pyongyang, which is in dire economic straits, might also receive financial aid from international organisations such as the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank, said one official. "The United States has introduced some viable options that may make progress in future negotiations with North Korea possible. We expect the US to show a great amount of flexibility once the negotiations start," the official said. In Seoul, spokeswoman Park Sun-suk said: "President Kim Dae-jung is adamant that the issue pertinent to missiles and nuclear weapons should be settled via dialogue based on the firm alliance between the two countries." However, there is still disagreement between the US and South Korea over how to proceed, according to reports from Seoul. South Korea is proposing the dispatch of a special envoy to Pyongyang to diffuse tensions and bring North Korea to the negotiating table. The US is opposed to the idea until North Korea responds to Washington’s proposal for resumption of talks. Bush is scheduled to visit Seoul on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of an Asian tour which includes Japan and China. Meanwhile, lavish celebrations are being held for Kim Jong-il, who yesterday celebrated his 60th birthday. Officially, Kim was born in the deep forests of sacred Mount Paekdu on February 16, 1942, at a secret camp on the Chinese border as Korean guerrillas fought the Japanese. Outside experts say he was actually born in the Soviet Union and spent the 1950-53 Korean War in China. Kim, groomed since 1980 by his late father Kim Il-sung as the communist’s world’s first dynastic successor, took over when the elder Kim died in 1994. |
