Diplomatic solution possible with North Korea: Bush
31 Dec 2002 15:17:29
SEOUL - U.S. President George Bush said on Tuesday the nuclear showdown with North Korea can be resolved peacefully.
Bush's comments come several hours after reports emerged that North Korea had accused the United States of plotting an attack, and threatened to back out of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
The secretive communist state's nuclear program, which it is reactivating after eight years, will operate behind a shroud of secrecy without the monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The UN monitors left the North Korea on Monday, and arrived later in Beijing.
Pyongyang kicked the monitors out as it prepares to restart a nuclear facility Washington fears could be used to make atomic bombs within months.
Bush told reporters in Crawford, Texas that despite the rising tension and tough talk on both sides, the confrontation is diplomatic in nature, and a diplomatic solution can be found.
South Korea's president-elect said on Tuesday that U.S. efforts to pressure North Korea into reversing those recent moves might not work.
Roh Moo-hyun, who begins a five-year term in February, plans to continue President Kim Dae-jung's policy of engagement and dialogue with the North. Both men say they believe dialogue is the only way to resolve the nuclear issue peacefully.
North Korea's ambassador to Moscow, meanwhile, was quoted in Russian news agencies saying that the United States was threatening a nuclear strike, which was making it impossible for Pyongyang to meet the demands of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"These conditions make it impossible for us to abide by the treaty, whose main provision bans nuclear powers from using nuclear weapons against countries that do not have them," said Pak Ui Chun, the Interfax News Agency reported.
The North's official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, meanwhile, published a report on Tuesday blaming Washington for the rising tensions, and threatening to defend ferociously against any attack.
"If the enemy invades even an inch … the people's army will wipe out the aggressors to the last man," the paper said. |
