Bush, South Korea At Odds Over North
Steven Mufson, Washington Post
Thursday, March 8, 2001
Washington -- President Bush cast doubt
yesterday on the future of talks to end North
Korea's missile program, saying he was concerned
about how to verify such an agreement and putting
himself somewhat at odds with visiting South
Korean President Kim Dae Jung.
Bush said he supported Kim's effort to ease
tensions with North Korea, but said any deal to
restrict its missiles must come with some means of
verifying the terms of such a pact.
"Part of the problem in dealing with North Korea,
there's not very much transparency," Bush said in a
joint press conference with Kim. He added that
"we're not certain as to whether or not they're
keeping all terms of all agreements."
The Bush-Kim meeting was an awkward start to a
relationship the Bush administration has described
as important to U.S. interests and regional security
in northeast Asia. It also underscored the
administration's leery view of North Korea, which
Bush often calls a rogue state and whose long-range
missile program has been one rationale for a
national missile defense system.
Kim, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who came
seeking support for his increasingly unpopular
"sunshine policy" of engaging communist North
Korea, described his talks with Bush as "a frank
and honest exchange of views" that had "increased
the mutual understanding," phrases often used to
describe meetings where the two sides disagree.
Kim had encouraged the Clinton administration in its
pursuit of an agreement that would have sent U.S.
economic aid to isolated, famine-stricken North
Korea in exchange for a North Korean commitment
to stop development of long-range missiles and halt
exports of missiles to other nations, such as Iran and
Pakistan.
Kim saw the negotiations as contributing to an
easing of tensions on the heavily armed and divided
Korean peninsula.
Bush's comments about North Korea struck a
markedly more cautious tone than ones made
Tuesday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who
said the administration intended "to pick up where
President Clinton and his administration left off," and
examine "some promising elements (that) were left
on the table."
Yesterday, Powell seemed to change emphasis,
saying, "There was some suggestion that imminent
negotiations are about to begin -- that is not the
case." He added, "in due course, when our review
is finished, we'll determine at what pace and when
we will engage with the North Koreans."
©2001 San Francisco Chronicle
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