North Korea looks South for Help
SEOUL, South Korea (Jan. 1) - Seeing an opportunity in widespread anti-American sentiment in South Korea, North Korea is urging the South to prevent war by backing the North in its confrontation with the United States over nuclear weapons development.
''It is an urgent national task to avert the danger of war and preserve peace on the Korean Peninsula,'' the communist North said in a New Year's message which accused the United States of preparing to launch a ''pre-emptive nuclear attack.''
''There is neither reason nor condition for the fellow countrymen to strain the situation and disturb peace ... as the North and the South are heading for reconciliation, unity and reunification,'' said Wednesday's message, carried by the government-run Korean Central News Agency.
Thousands of South Koreans have taken part in recent weeks in anti-American protests triggered by the deaths of two teenage girls who were hit by a U.S. military vehicle in June.
The protesters have also denounced U.S. policy toward the North, while some have demanded an end to the U.S. military presence in South Korea.
North Korea has a long-standing strategy of trying to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington. But its latest emphasis on cooperation with South Korea comes as Seoul has openly criticized a possible U.S. plan to use economic sanctions to force North Korea to abandon its suspected nuclear weapons program.
Under President Kim Dae-jung's ''sunshine'' policy of engaging North Korea, the South has launched a series of inter-Korean projects, including a proposed cross-border rail link and tourist and industrial parks, that would bring the impoverished North badly needed investment and cash.
North Korea, which has difficulty feeding its 22 million people without outside relief, risked losing key aid in recent weeks by expelling U.N. inspectors and threatening to pull out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to free its nuclear facilities from international controls.
Missak Demirdjian, one of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors expelled by Pyongyang, arrived Wednesday at Vienna's Schwechat airport on a flight from Beijing.
''We, of course, hope to go back as soon as possible,'' he said, adding that he would report soon to the IAEA, and that he had left at the IAEA's request.
''North Korea has been digging deeper into isolation these days, and the United States is pouring hot water into the hole to force it to come out,'' said Koh Yoo-hwan, a North Korea expert in Seoul's Dongkuk University.
''At this hard time, North Korea increasingly sees that South Korea is its only friend, as it tries to avoid the brunt of U.S. diplomatic pressure,'' Koh said.
Although North Korea's recent decision to reactivate its nuclear program angered much of the world, it stirred little reaction among ordinary South Koreans. U.S. officials say North Korea may use its nuclear facilities to build atomic bombs.
In recent years, North Korea has revamped its image among many South Koreans through a series of reconciliation projects, such as reunions of aging Koreans separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
Both South Korean President Kim and President-elect Roh Moo-hyun, who takes office in late February, insist that North Korea not develop nuclear weapons.
But they have expressed concern that Washington might impose heavy economic pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions, and that this could backfire and harden the North's stance.
Some South Koreans worry that the nuclear dispute could trigger armed conflict on the peninsula. More than 2 million troops are massed along the Korean border, with about 37,000 U.S. soldiers backing South Korea's troops.
Denying a rift was developing with South Korea over the North's nuclear stance, U.S. President George W. Bush said Tuesday that he was confident the problem could be solved through diplomacy.
''This is not a military showdown. This is a diplomatic showdown,'' Bush said.
In recent weeks, North Korea removed monitoring seals and cameras from its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon that were frozen under a deal with the United States in 1994. It says it is willing to resolve concerns over its nuclear program if the United States signs a nonaggression treaty, but Washington rules out any talks before the North changes course.
AP-NY-01-01-03 2142EST
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. |
