Netters!
The United States faced growing pressure on Monday I do not understand, can someone help me out here, why on earth won't the US hold the damn talks with the Koreans? The Koreans want talks. I would think that the US, a super power as it is, would not fear such talks.
Or should we say the administration in Washington is simply too PROUD to hold talks with a communist nation. Could it be that holding talks with the Communist nation could be seen as being too dovish... and not hawkish enough!!! whatever that means. Humans with their pride!
Matek
SEOUL (Feb. 24) - The United States faced growing pressure on Monday to hold direct talks with North Korea as the only way to defuse a crisis over the communist state's nuclear intentions.
With the Bush administration focusing on Iraq and Secretary of State Colin Powell touring Asia, South Korea's outgoing president, stanch U.S. ally Australia and U.N. Security Council member China all backed one-on-one talks as the best way forward.
North Korea, which insists on bilateral talks with Washington and a non-aggression treaty, persuaded a summit of developing nations in Malaysia to water down a statement that sought to criticize its role in the crisis.
''More than anything, dialogue between North Korea and the United States is the important key to a solution,'' South Korea's Kim Dae-jung, 78, said in an address to the nation on his last day in office.
Powell, who later arrived in South Korea for Tuesday's inauguration of Kim's successor, held talks in Beijing with top Chinese leaders.
''I think they are anxious to play as helpful a role as they can,'' he told a news conference before leaving. ''I think they prefer to play their role quietly but they have a clear understanding of our desires and our interests.''
China's state news agency, Xinhua, said Vice President Hu Jintao had urged direct talks between the United States and North Korea -- a path Washington has resisted in favor of a multilateral approach.
''China hopes the United States and the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) will conduct direct dialogues as soon as possible,'' Xinhua quoted Hu as telling Powell.
Australia, one of the few Western countries to have diplomatic relations with North Korea, said Washington should reassure Pyongyang on its security.
''Whether one likes it or not -- and I don't particularly like it -- this will have to be resolved bilaterally,'' Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said as he left for South Korea.
NEW PRESIDENT
Powell and Downer will attend Tuesday's inauguration of Roh Moo-hyun, a gathering that will bring together dignitaries from states with a strong interest in resolving the nuclear crisis.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told journalists on his flight to Seoul that he would advise Roh that ''a trusting and friendly relationship with the United States is extremely important for South Korea and for the new administration.''
The crisis began in October, when U.S. officials said North Korea had admitted pursuing a covert nuclear weapons program.
The North then expelled International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, pulled out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and threatened to resume missile testing and abandon the 1953 Korean War armistice.
North Korea fired a fresh rhetorical broadside on Monday, attacking U.S.-South Korean war games due to open next month.
The annual exercises were designed to ''block the reconciliation and reunification process of the Korean nation and, furthermore, ignite a war against the northern half of Korea,'' the North's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said.
The United States is seeking a consensus to urge North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to scrap any nuclear ambitions and, if he refuses, to crack down on his impoverished country economically.
Washington says it will not be ''blackmailed,'' adding that the international community has rewarded the North's provocative behavior in the past and should not do so again.
The United States sees China as central to a multilateral strategy. ''They can do more,'' said one U.S. official travelling with Powell, who arrived in China on Sunday from Tokyo.
China, however, fears economic sanctions could provoke fresh North Korean brinkmanship or a collapse which would destabilize the region and trigger a flood of refugees across its border.
In Malaysia, North Korea persuaded the Non-Aligned summit not to criticize its decision to quit the NPT. A draft statement said ''the parties directly concerned should resolve through dialogue and negotiation all issues related to the withdrawal.''
Kim Dae-jung, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his reconciliation efforts on the divided peninsula, said the South's alliance with Washington would remain vital to security there.
''Realistically, for the maintenance of peace on the Korean peninsula, North-South reconciliation and the solid South Korea-U.S. security alliance must be continued, '' he said.
''For the stability of Northeast Asia, the presence of U.S. troops in South Korea is necessary now and after reunification.''
The United States has 37,000 troops in South Korea under a bilateral alliance forged in 1953 at the end of the Korean War.
Roh has vowed to continue Kim's policy of trying to secure peace with North Korea through aid and engagement.
Reut10:17 02-24-03
